Ninja Chronicles- Halo
by First Hokage Hashirama Senju
Summary: Three ninjas are sealed away for a time. Two appear in one place, another appears elsewhere. Events occur which leads to them helping the UNSC fight for survival and to get back home. On hiatus until writing improves.
1. Sealing

**Ninja Chronicles- Halo**

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Notes-

_Italics _means character thought

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**Chapter 1: Sealing**

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**Seventy Five years before the start of Naruto**

**Land of Fire Grasslands**

The battlefield was littered with the corpses of hundreds of ninjas. All of whom were sent at Hashirama by Madara hours ago, but were slaughtered by the Senju's overwhelming power.

"Madara, this does not have to end this way! We can still have peace!" Hashirama, the thirty year old leader of the Senju clan and the strongest ninja, spoke loud and clear as he looked up to the edge of the cliff top.

"HAHAHAHA! Peace?! No such thing can exist between the Senju and Uchiha clans! You are going to die today!" Madara cackled, his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan eyes stared at the Senju, a cold stare that would give any lesser ninja the chills.

"I have no choice, after all. Prepare yourself," Hashirama spoke with a hint of sadness in his voice, he ran towards the cliff wall and focused chakra to his feet to run up the side. _This fight has dragged on too long; both of us are too exhausted to keep it up for much longer. _

"Kaia Yazra, prepare for sealing, we need to get rid of him," Madara whispered to a nearby ninja, who then undid his jutsu and appeared as if he had come out of the spiked rock nearby.

"Yes, master," the Yazra clan member spoke calmly as he quickly took the giant scroll off his back and opened it in one fluid motion, he then bit his thumb and drew a symbol in blood on the scroll before placing it on the ground, "All set."

"He will be here in five seconds," Madara stated as he tracked Hashirama's movements, "We both are getting exhausted, and I have to admit I am almost at my limit." Madara saw the ninja forming hand seals at blazing speed before a bright golden orb shot out of the seal and hung in the air.

Hashirama arrived seconds later on the same ground Madara stood on, "Madara, it is time to end this," Hashirama tried to move but a shout interrupted him.

"Seal!" Kaia yelled as he formed the final hand sign, which caused the glowing orb of golden energy to open to reveal a white vortex which started to pull in the Senju, "Any last words before you are removed from this world, permanently?" Kaia spoke calmly as the sealing jutsu vortex grew stronger.

"What!? How did I not detect you? Did you use an invisibility jutsu?" Hashirama tried to turn his fingers to wood to get a grip but the wood disintegrated and was sucked into the vortex, "And my jutsu is not working!"

"This jutsu is inescapable. Any ninjutsu you try will make the vortex stronger, not even chakra concentration to the ground will save you. And I made myself undetectable with the Hidden in Rock jutsu. It is finished!" the sealer spoke as he increased the power of the vortex.

"You are from the Yazra clan, able to use sealing jutsu like this?! You must be that lone survivor!" Hashirama recognized the purple hair and purple eyes of the Yazra clan just before he was pulled into the vortex and sealed away.

"It is done, I cannot use the jutsu again for thirty years without it leading to my death," Kaia spoke as he panted from the exertion. The vortex and golden light disappeared into nothingness, "The perfect sealing jutsu, it does not seal someone into a scroll, it seals them away into another space in which they will never be found again. This means there is no chance of retrieval." Kaia collapsed to the ground, his chakra nearly depleted but intent on not laying around, he struggled back up to his feet.

"Good job, Kaia. You have proven yourself to be very useful," Madara Uchiha spoke as he walked towards his hideout, "Come with me, we must not remain out here in this battlefield."

"Yes, master," Kaia replied strongly as he walked behind Madara, keeping pace while masking his exhaustion.

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**Fifty three years before the start of Naruto**

**The forest near the border of the Land of Fire and Land of Lightning**

Seventeen enemies laid dead around Tobirama Senju, the twenty nine year old younger brother of Hashirama. He had stayed behind to allow his team to escape the murderous intents of the Hidden Cloud Village's Kinkaku Force, a deadly team of twenty elite Cloud ninjas.

_Did I make the right decision in appointing Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Third Hokage? Or did I...no! __Tōka__ Senju would be helping him. Like she did with me after Hashirama died, she helped me take care of the village. _Tobirama panted from exhaustion as he prepared for the attacks of the remaining enemies.

"It appears your end is at hand," one of the two enemies in front of the Senju named Ginkaku spoke as he raised a large sword and gave Tobirama a chilling glare, intent on ending the Second Hokage's life. His long, silver hair was the defining characteristic that set him apart from his brother.

_There are two of them; I killed seventeen of the enemy forces. Where could the last one be? Should I try to lead them further from the village, or should I use my most powerful jutsu at the cost of my life from complete chakra depletion…a tough decision. _Tobirama looked around and saw no other options, he was doomed either way due to how exhausted he was; the Hokage spoke calmly, "My last stand begins here; do not think you can win so easily."

"I see. Deviant to the very end, fitting for a kage," Ginkaku's gold haired brother named Kinkaku stated as he readied his sword for the kill.

"Stop! I will deal with the Hokage!" a voice shouted out before the Gold and Silver Brothers could make a move.

Tobirama turned his head to look in the direction of the voice, and found another Cloud ninja with a scroll at his feet, "So you were the twentieth member, trying to attack me from behind?" Tobirama questioned. _I am going to die soon, he may as well tell the truth as a dead man tells no tales. _

"Seal!" Kaia shouted as he formed a final hand sign, the glowing orb of golden energy opened to reveal a white vortex which started to suck in the Hokage, "This is the same sealing jutsu I used on the previous Hokage, Hashirama! Any last words?"

"You used this jutsu on my brother all those years ago?!" Tobirama shouted as he was pulled in, unable to resist the pull due to chakra exhaustion. _Guess this is how it all ends. _

"Say goodbye to this world forever! You will be sealed for eternity!" the Yazra clan member shouted while panting as he poured his remaining chakra into the vortex, causing it to grow so powerful that it tore up and sucked the ground Tobirama was on, and the Senju himself, into the swirling vortex. As his life force waned, he looked at the two large Cloud ninjas ahead before he stated in a strained voice, "Be glad that I…sealed away Tobirama…you are rid of him for good."

"At least we are rid of him," Ginkaku spoke as Kaia collapsed to the ground, dead from his own jutsu, the two walked away from the quiet battlefield.

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**Twelve years before the start of Naruto**

**Forest outside of Hidden Leaf village**

"Eight Signed Seal," Minato Namikaze, known as the Fourth Hokage, spoke as he prepared to seal the Nine Tailed Fox into Naruto Uzumaki, his son. In addition to the deadly side effect of the jutsu taking the user's life, Minato and his wife Kushina Uzumaki were currently impaled on the sharp claw of the demon fox.

_I wish I had more time with Naruto and Kushina. _Minato's world slowly went black and he waited for death to take him to the next world and end the pain of the claw sticking through his midsection.

"Minato, open your eyes," Kushina spoke in a soft voice. The Hokage opened his eyes and felt weightlessness. He felt nothing below and he tried to move a muscle but found that his body would not move an inch.

"Kushina, what is happening? Are we dead? Is this the afterlife?" Minato questioned calmly as the red haired Uzumaki appeared above him, looking into his eyes with her blue eyes.

"No, listen to my every word carefully; this is the only chance we have. I used an extremely ancient and forbidden Uzumaki seal, I am the only one who knows the formula to the seal, and I took the secret with me when I died. This seal was never used during the Dead Demon Consuming Seal jutsu, so this is what happened. I have no idea where you will end up, or when you will get back to the physical world. When you finished the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, I used the Uzumaki seal to take the effects of the jutsu so that you would live. During that brief moment, I learned of a man you fought who was masked and stated that he was seriously going to plan to take over the world," Kushina's eyes started to water and tears flowed out as she fought to keep her voice steady, "Minato…please make sure that the masked man does not take away the future…from any children. Please save the world from him. My time is almost up, Minato, I love you. There was so much I wanted to do."

"Kushina, I love you too, there was so much more we could have done together," Minato spoke as his consciousness waned, tears flowing from his eyes as well as Kushina's. Moments later, silence and blackness overtook the Hokage.

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**August, 2552**

**Reach Orbit, Viery Station**

"Jack, the data has been purged, mission accomplished!" an ODST stated to Jack, the team commander who had the United Nations Space Command rank of Gunnery Sergeant.

"Good, we can get the hell out of here before we get blasted to atomized bits by the three hundred and fourteen strong Covenant fleet outside the station! Go! Go! Go!" Jack stated loud and clear as he led the team towards the door, which opened to reveal a very pissed off energy sword wielding Elite Zealot who let loose a loud roar.

"You're not slicing anyone today!" Jessie, a female marine with the rank of Staff Sergeant, yelled as she fired three shotgun blasts before the Elite could make mincemeat out of Jack. The first shot flared up the shields, the second shot shattered the shields, and the third knocked the Elite clean off of his feet and left him with a gaping hole in his midsection.

"Thanks, Jessie. Would've got me, we need to move," the team commander spoke as he and the team ran down the hallways, shooting Covenant left and right.

"No problem, did not want to lose anyone else today after my team got massacred by eight Hunters. I hate those things," Jessie spoke, venom in her voice directed at the Hunters that killed her team. After a minute of running down the halls, something caught her eye, "Jack, I saw something unusual, we must check it out."

"Let's check, fast," Jack replied as he looked in the room, and realized why the female marine thought it was unusual. In the room were two figures slumped against the wall. One had tanned skin, long black hair, a simple black suit, and over the suit was dark red armor. The other was fair-skinned, had white shaggy hair, the same black suit, but had blue armor with a fur collar.

"What should we…," one of Jack's team mates asked before Jack interrupted.

"We should take them to the Pillar of Autumn now! And grab the stuff near them, might be their tools and supplies! On the double! Go!" Jack ordered as his team quickly did what they needed to do. Within moments, all the objects near the figures were picked up. And two members of Jack's team carried the two strange people piggyback. "Now that we are ready, let's get going!" Jack stated loud and clear moments before a rumbling was felt.

"Are they blasting the hell out of us!?" another member of the ODST team shouted, as Jack took a peek outside. When he turned to face the team, everyone knew they were in trouble.

"We have Hunters, about four of them; they are not looking in our direction for now. Jessie, take the lead so you can blow away every Covenant scumbag that gets in our way with your shotgun. And I will take the rear to keep the team running at top speed. Run like you have the devil at your heels! Let's go!" Jack ordered. _If they see us, we are cooked._

Jessie ran towards the hangar bays with the ODST team following close behind at top speed and Jack at the rear keeping the team together. The Hunters, whose backs were turned, heard the running footsteps of Humans and turned around. Two of them charged up their green plasma cannons and fired.

"Oh shit! Keep running!" Jack shouted as he felt the heat of the plasma which just missed them by a dozen feet. The superheated plasma shots burned through the wall into another room, leaving red hot molten metal on the floor below the hole. The team ran as fast as possible into the hangar and towards the lone Pelican drop ship waiting to extract them.

"Just in time, Captain Keyes was beginning to wonder if you would ever get out alive," the Pelican pilot stated just before a loud crash sounded throughout the hangar.

"Get ready for takeoff; we have Hunters on our tail!" Jessie yelled with extreme urgency in her tone of voice as she jumped into the ship and took a seat near the front.

"Closing the hatch now!" the pilot spoke as he pushed a button after Jack jumped into the Pelican, the hatch quickly closed as the Hunters ran into the hangar.

"Locked and secured!" the two ODSTs who had carried the two beings piggyback stated as they strapped them into the Pelican seat restraints, "Take off now if you must, we will be fine!"

"Do it, we'll be blasted in the next three seconds if we don't move!" Jack shouted as he saw, through the window of the hatch, all four Hunters charging up to fire, "They are about ready to fry us!"

"We are out of here!" the pilot stated as he flew the Pelican out of the hangar just in time, the superheated plasma missed the Pelican by inches. The ODSTs not strapped in braced for the sudden acceleration to not get thrown to the floor or against the wall.

"Just in time, we are starting up the slipspace drive. And we have Covenant hot on our tail!" Keyes spoke through the COM line as the Pelican headed towards the Halcyon-class light cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn. The pilot quickly flew into one of the giant hangar bays and quickly landed as the hangar doors quickly closed and locked shut moments later.

The lone UNSC ship's slipspace drive started up as a slipspace portal opened up and the ship entered slipspace. The multiple Covenant ships following behind quickly entered slipspace in pursuit.

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On Reach, the Covenant are winning. The Orbital Defense Platforms went silent without their generators, and were quickly destroyed by the massive Covenant armada. Then they quickly overran the surface of Reach afterwards to look for Forerunner artifacts shortly before glassing the planet. The only things left behind were a graveyard in orbit and a scorched planet below.

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**One Hour, thirty two minutes after entering slipspace**

"How are the two we found onboard the station doing?" Jessie asked Jack as they walked to cryo-chamber room C, which was located a few hallways away from chamber B and further away from A.

"Safely placed in cryo-sleep, they were able to take off the metal parts of their outfits, left just the black undershirt and pants on. Did not want the metal breaking during the sleep, and they are in the same room we are heading to," Jack responded as the pair walked into chamber C and headed to their cryo-pods.

After Jessie and everyone else had made the preparations to go into cryo-sleep, Jessie noticed the two figures they found in the station, they were in two nearby cryo-pods. She soon went into cryo-sleep afterwards, along with the rest of the crew.

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For the next several weeks, the crew slept, unaware of what they will find on the other side of their path; a discovery that would change everything, and possibly change the course of the UNSC's fight for survival.


	2. Pillar of Autumn

**Ninja Chronicles- Halo Chapter 2- Pillar of Autumn**

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**Note- The personalities of Minato Namikaze, Hashirama Senju, and Tobirama Senju are Alternate Universe in this story due to recent revelations in chapters 619 through current chapters in the Naruto magna. I had already copied and pasted the character info pages for the three above mentioned characters before the revelations so I decided to put it as Alternate Universe, and I had already started the second chapter when the new personality details were discovered and added to the Naruto wiki. Plus I want to avoid potential spoilers and eventually, in the future, possible spoilers that will involve the ending of the Naruto series, which I do not want to have spoiled.**

**Edit- I made a minor edit, a quote change, due to finding out Hashirama was more badass than previously thought.**

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**September 19th, 2552**

**The Bridge**

The Pillar of Autumn flew towards a ring world with several Longswords flying alongside the ship. In the bridge, Captain Jacob Keyes, who wore a light gray variant of the UNSC Navy uniform which consisted of a shirt and trouser of the same color with his ribbons, name tag, and rank insignia attached to the left hand side of his uniform; looked outside at the ring they had just discovered.

"Cortana, all I need to know is did we lose them?" Keyes questioned the AI on the holographic AI avatar projector.

"I think we both know the answer to that," Cortana replied professionally as she looked at the captain, her avatar was that of a woman with short hair and what appeared to be cloth covering her body in lines. Her primary colors were shades of blue and some white areas.

The captain gave out a sigh as he bowed his head, "We made a blind jump. How did they…"

"Get here first? The Covenant ships have always been faster. As for tracking us all the way from Reach…at light speed, my maneuvering options were limited," Cortana interrupted as Keyes raised his head and straightened his back. He began to pace around, his footsteps audible on the metal floor of the ship, and looked at the various veiwscreens near the crew members' consoles.

"We were running dark, yes?" Keyes inquired as he looked at a viewscreen that showed the status of the ship.

"Until we decelerated, no one could have missed the hole we tore in subspace," Cortana responded as she looked at the same viewscreen, "They were waiting for us on the far side of the planet."

The crewman at the viewscreen console pushed several buttons which brought up an image of the planet with the ring world in orbit. Keyes looked at the image for several moments, "So, where do we stand?"

"Our fighters are mopping up the last of their recon picket now, nothing serious," Cortana informed. Keyes turned his attention to the main viewscreen near the front of the bridge which showed the planet, ring world, and the current location of the Covenant ships. He pulled his pipe out of his mouth and shook some ash off it before closing his eyes wearily; Cortana resumed speaking, "But I've isolated approach signatures from multiple CCS-class battle groups, make it three capital ships per group. And in about ninety seconds, they'll be all over us."

The captain opened his eyes, "Well, that's it then. Bring the ship back up to Combat Alert Alpha. I want everyone at their stations," he ordered as he thought over the combat scenarios that could happen.

"Everyone, sir?" Cortana questioned as she prepared to hit the alarms.

"Everyone," Keyes stated, Cortana activated the alarms, alarm klaxons blared as crewmen ran to their stations. Within moments, every station had at least one crewmember manning it, "And Cortana…"

"Hmm?" Cortana inquired as she waited for the captain's order.

"Let's give our old friends a warm welcome. And tell Jack and Jessie to make sure that the two people they found on the station get off alive. I have the feeling they will be able to help us greatly in this war," Keyes ordered as he looked out the window and saw the approaching Covenant ships.

"I've already begun," Cortana responded as she looked out the window also and saw the same thing.

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**Main Hold of Pillar of Autumn**

The main hold was ablaze with activity. A marine waved light batons to guide a Pelican into the correct docking position. Others landed nearby, ready to pick up vehicles, marines, and other crew members. The gates leading to the lower decks opened as marines ran to the weapon racks to pick up their guns.

"Attention, all combat personnel. Please report to your action stations," Cortana spoke over the COM systems of the ship, "Fifth Platoon, secure airlocks on Deck Eleven. Fourteenth Platoon, rendezvous with Twenty Second Tactical at bulkhead Charlie Fourteen."

On the deck below, marines readied their weapons as some talked to each other, others prepared Scorpion tanks and Warthogs for combat, while some loitered.

"Duvall, take your squad to cryo-chamber C, now. This is an order from Captain Jacob Keyes," Cortana ordered over the COM as Sergeant Major Duvall gathered his team into formation and headed to their objective point.

Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson walked through a line of marines, "You heard the lady! Move like you've got a purpose!" he stated, his tone deadly serious; the marines quickly formed into two lines, facing each other.

"This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill," Cortana announced as Johnson walked down the column between the two lines of marines.

"Men, we led those dumb bugs out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on Earth. But we stumbled onto somethin' they're so hot for, that they're scramblin' over each other to get it. Well, I don't care if it's God's own anti-son-of-a-bitch machine, or a giant hula hoop, we're not gonna let 'em have it! What we will let 'em have...is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in!" Sgt. Johnson spoke loud and clear before turning around at the end of the column, "Am I right, marines?"

"Sir, yes sir!" the marines replied in the same tone, their weapons at the ready for combat.

"Uh-huh. Damn right, I am. Now move it out! Double time!" Sgt. Johnson stated in the same tone as with his speech, the marines broke formation and ran out of the area as Johnson followed behind slowly.

"Attention, all personnel. We are re-engaging the enemy. Internal and external contact imminent," Cortana announced over the COM as everyone prepared for the inevitable combat.

"All you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close…this is gonna be your lucky day," the sergeant said loud and clear as the marines made final preparations.

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**Cryo-chamber C**

"Two minutes until complete thaw," tech officer Stanly informed Jack, Jessie, and the ODST team in the room. The tech officer had green eyes and light brown hair; he wore a yellow outfit with a gray vest.

"Good, we do not want the Covenant to catch us with the two still sleeping," Jack replied as he kept his assault rifle pointed at the door. Jack was dressed in the standard green colored Orbital Drop Shock Trooper battle armor which consisted of a helmet, body suit, and armor.

Two tense minutes passed by without any new information via COM from Cortana.

"Ready to open the hatches now," Stanly stated as he pushed a green button on the control panel, which unlocked the cryo-pod hatches. They opened with a hiss and he felt the cold air wash over him as the hatches opened fully. The two figures opened their eyes moments later.

"Good to see you both are awake," the tech officer spoke as he checked the control panel, "You both may experience some slight chills from the cytoprethaline, a bitter taste in the mouth from the bronchial surfactant, and freezer burn from having clothing on during the sleep."

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_Tastes bitter._ Hashirama stood up and stepped out of the cryo-pod along with Tobirama.

"I am feeling fine due to my healing abilities," Hashirama informed the tech officer before turning his attention to Tobirama, "How are you feeling?"

"A bit sore, must be the freezer burn he spoke about," Tobirama replied, his years of ninja duty masked his pain; his brother gathered healing chakra into his hand.

"Let me transfer my healing chakra to you so you can heal," Hashirama stated as he placed his healing chakra infused hand on Tobirama's arm. The green healing chakra transferred to the younger Senju brother and began to heal the sores, "That should do it."

"Thanks, it is helping a lot," Tobirama replied as he felt the pain fade away.

"Now since the burns are taken care of, do you know where our armor and supplies are? I have the feeling we will be in danger soon," Hashirama asked as his ninja senses warned of danger incoming.

"Yes, follow me," the tech officer replied as he walked quickly with the Senju brothers following behind to a locker on a nearby wall, "You are right in assuming we will be in danger soon. The Covenant are most likely going to board the ship soon. They are murderous and will kill all in their path," he opened the locker, "Here are your supplies."

"Excuse me, but I do not know what the Covenant is, can you explain more about them?" Hashirama questioned as he took his supplies, "Thanks for showing us where our armor and tools were; we need to get ready soon if the enemy are indeed going to attack."

"Stanly, I can explain more about the Covenant once we get off this ship. I think they will be here in…" Jack spoke before he was interrupted by the COM lines of the ship activating.

"Fire teams, report to defensive positions Alpha through Sierra. Sensors show inbound Covenant boarding craft. Stand by to repel boarders," Cortana stated urgently, fire teams responded by running to their assigned defensive positions.

Jessie activated her headset COM, "Duvall, you heard the lady, we have to get ready before the Covenant get the jump on us," her tone serious as she unclipped her shotgun from the weapon holder on her back, "We need to give them all hell for every inch they advance!" Jessie was dressed in the standard United Nations Space Command Marine Corps battle dress uniform which consisted of green fatigues, combat boots, and armor.

"We shall, those bastards do not know who they are messing with! They are messing with survivors from Reach, we are all badasses!" Duvall replied with enthusiasm as Jessie heard the unclipping of weapons as Duvall and his team fully prepared for deadly combat.

Hashirama adjusted his sword sheath as he looked at Tobirama, "Are you ready? I am prepared for combat, we have to help them fight this Covenant," he asked as Tobirama clipped his sword to his belt.

"Yes, I am ready to help them, we must be careful," Tobirama replied as the two faced Jack and the others in the room.

"You two look like you are ready to help us kick some serious ass," Jack spoke as he saw the Senju brothers' armor.

Hashirama was dressed in dark red armor worn over his under suit, a belt which held his sword sheath to his side, and a large scroll worn on his back, a forehead protector, and sandals. Tobirama had similar attire but the differences were the color of his armor which was colored blue with a fur collar, and his forehead protector was shaped like a happuri instead of the normal style.

"Now that we are prepared, we should introduce ourselves. My name is Hashirama Senju," Hashirama informed the others in the room.

"And my name is Tobirama Senju, we are brothers," Tobirama spoke after Hashirama finished speaking.

"Nice to meet the two of you, my name is Jack. I am in command of the team here," Jack informed, "We have to get out of here soon. The Covenant will likely be crawling all over the place in a few minutes."

As soon as Jack finished, Cortana spoke on the COM, "Team One, head to the nearest escape pods, this is an order from Captain Keyes."

"That's us, we need to get going," Jack replied before he connected his COM to Duvall's, "Get ready to move, we are getting off of this ship."

The ship COM activated again as the AI spoke, "Alert! All hands, boarding parties on port decks Four, Seven, and Twelve. Baker Team move to engage."

Jack spoke loud and clear through the COM and to everyone in the room, "Jessie and I will be taking the front of the team. Jessie's skills in close quarters combat and my skills with medium to long range combat will ensure no Covenant remain alive if they stand in our way, my team will be right behind us. Hashirama, Tobirama, and Stanly will take the middle, Duvall and his team will take the rear. Everyone understand?"

"Yes, sir!" every marine and ODST replied as Jack opened the door.

"Understood," Hashirama and Tobirama replied as they prepared to follow.

"Let's go, every second counts!" Jack ordered as he and Jessie ran out first followed by Jack's team, the Senju brothers, Stanly, Duvall, and his team.

"Warning! Covenant incursions on port decks Three and Nine. Alpha Team engage enemy boarders," Cortana warned as more Covenant boarding craft arrived.

The team ran through the metallic hallways of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn as the Covenant continued their boarding operations. Jack could hear the cries of the UNSC crewmen over his headset COM who were attacked and overwhelmed by the advancing Covenant.

"Enemy boarding parties on starboard decks Eight through Ten. Echo Team intercept Covenant forces," the AI ordered over the COM as the ship rumbled from the arrival of more boarding parties.

"Cortana, how is the situation?" Jack spoke over the COM as the team ran towards a door.

"Holding steady, the Covenant are trying to get the upper hand," Cortana replied through the COM before switching to the ship COM, "Covenant boarding craft detected on port decks Four, Five, Seven, Eight, and Eleven. All available combat teams, respond!"

"Damn, the door is damaged," Jack spoke as he tried to get the door to open, "Plasma fire must have fried the control panel."

"I can assist, step back," Hashirama spoke as he walked to the damaged door, Jack stepped back, "Watch my back." Hashirama made several hand signs. His arm turned to wood, which then turned into many wood tendrils that squeezed their way through the tiny crack in the door. The others watched in amazement as the door was pushed open with a screeching sound as metal scrapped against metal. After several moments, the door was pushed all the way open, "Now we can continue."

"That was awesome! Can't wait to see your powers in combat!" one of Jack's team mates spoke as Hashirama undid his jutsu and his arm turned back to normal.

"Let's get goi…" Jack spoke before a hiss interrupted him. One of Duvall's marines gave out a cry of pain as an Elite deactivated his active camouflage, the marines spun around only to see him impaled on the pointy tips of two energy swords.

"Sword! Sword Elite!" Duvall shouted as the Zealot ripped his swords out of the dying marine, killing him. He then lunged at Duvall with murderous intent and chopped his assault rifle in half after he had fired a dozen rounds with no effect. Even the combined firing of several marines was not doing much.

_This is the end for me! _Duvall knew he would not be able to reach his pistol in time. Just before the swords could reach him, several wooden tendrils shot out and forced the Elite backwards.

"Hold your attacks, while Hashirama has it tied down, I will deal with the thing!" Tobirama ordered as he ran up the wall using chakra to quickly get past the other marines, they stopped firing before he landed in front of the team.

"It's no use struggling, you monster! There is no escape from this jutsu!" Hashirama spoke as Jack, Jessie, and the rest of the ODSTs aimed their weapons at the sword Elite just in case. The Elite struggled to escape as the Senju kept a tight grip with his jutsu, "Tobirama, now!"

Tobirama made hand signs, "Water Release: Water Gathering Technique!" The Elite only had a fleeting glimpse of the younger Senju Brother's red eyes before he had gathered up chakra and spewed out a large flood of water. The wall of water smashed into the Elite and flooded up to the ceiling. The flood raced down several hallways, drowning Jackals, Grunts after the flood ripped off their breathing masks, and several Elites.

Cortana activated the COM to Jack, "What just happened? A large flood of water occurred on the seventh deck. Luckily, no personnel were injured," Cortana asked, her tone very confused.

"I am not really sure. The two people we brought with us from the station, they have powers. One of them appears to have healing and wood powers while the other appears to use water. That was what the flood was; he tried to rid us of that Elite with two swords. He just tore one of Duvall's men apart without anyone detecting him!" Jack responded, "We are out of here in case if that Elite survived!"

"Get off of the ship as soon as possible," Cortana ordered before she changed to the ship COM, "Baker Team reports Covenant forces engaged on port deck Seven. Security teams move to assist."

"Yes, ma'am!" Jack responded, "Everyone, let's get going!"

The team made a run for it, knowing the deadly Elite could still be alive. They ran as the ship shook from the impacts of more boarding craft.

"Warning! Covenant boarders on starboard decks Four and Six. Sierra Team reports heavy resistance! Security teams assist," Cortana announced over the COM, "Alert! Alpha and Charlie Teams report heavy fighting on port decks Five through Nine. Foxtrot Team move to starboard decks Eight and Ten, and stand by."

"There are the escape pods, the coast is clear for now!" Jack stated, "Hashirama, Tobirama, Jessie, follow me and my team!"

The ODST team leader along with his three teammates, the female marine, and the two ninjas ran into the escape pod labeled Number 77. Duvall, his marine team, and Stanley entered the other two escape pods due to the pod's limit of eight passengers.

"Fasten the restraints, quickly!" Jessie informed as she sat down, the door quickly closed as the ship rumbled.

"Get ready for launch!" the escape pod pilot said loud and clear as she pushed some buttons. Everyone strapped themselves in via pulling the harnesses over their bodies, and the escape pod launched out of the ship along with several others. The others were not as lucky; several plasma shots struck and destroyed them, leaving behind debris.

"Damn Covenant!" Jack shouted as his COM link to Duvall and his team went dead, only static filled the COM.

* * *

**Elsewhere on the Pillar of Autumn**

_Those filthy scum! _The Elite Zealot picked up his swords and attached them to his sides. He took a look around the wet corridor and saw his fellow drowned covenant soldiers. _What did that scum do? What in the name of the Great Journey did he use on us?! _The Elite vomited water before stumbling to the nearest Covenant boarding craft.

_When I find them again, I will make sure their blood is spilled! I will make sure the last thing they see are my eyes! I will make them scream in agony and pain as they die slowly and painfully! _The Elite's anger raged inside as he entered the boarding craft and saw more drowned Covenant. He stumbled again and grabbed the wall for support. _Every inch of my body…agony…they will pay!_

The Elite found the pilot, drowned, and pulled him off to the floor and sat down on the wet seat. He pushed a button on the holographic control panel which activated an energy shield and pushed another which launched the boarding craft. _Once I head to the Truth and Reconciliation, I will recover and get my revenge!_

The Elite activated the COM line, "Truth and Reconciliation, do you read? I am injured; many of our brothers have died due to two beings who used some kind of power that caused a flood of liquid. I need to board and recover. And once I do, I will eviscerate those two who used the unholy powers! Then I will have my right to the Great Journey!" the alien's rage was barely contained as he spoke.

"Permission granted to board," the alien speaking through the COM to the Elite replied as the boarding craft neared a Covenant CCS-class battlecruiser.

* * *

"Entering the atmosphere in 3, 2, 1," the pilot informed as the bumblebee class escape pod hit the atmosphere of the ring world and gathered speed. As they hit a thousand feet above the surface of the ring, the pilot put up the air brakes and thrusters to slow down the pod, resulting in violent turbulence as the pod decelerated, "We are coming in fast, brace for impact!" The pod landed moments later, the lower two landing brakes snapped off as the pod skidded for two dozen feet before coming to a halt, the other two brakes fell off to the ground seconds later.

Jessie unlatched her harness and stood up, "Is everyone alright? That landing was rough, even by the normal crash landings in these kinds of pods," the female marine asked as she looked around.

"I am fine, thanks for asking," Hashirama replied as the restraints unfastened by itself due to the damage sustained from the crash landing, "If anyone needs healing, ask me."

"I will," Jessie said as she helped an ODST unlatch his jammed restraint until someone called out her name.

"We have someone injured over here, his arm is broken. Not sure how bad it is," an ODST spoke as he inspected another fellow soldier whose arm was in the wrong position, clearly broken.

"Let me take a look," Hashirama spoke as he walked to the injured man. He checked the arm and knew it was broken, "This is easy to fix, give me a moment."

Everyone watched as green healing chakra gathered around Hashirama's hand and he placed it on the area of the injury. The broken bones rejoined and the fractures healed in moments, a speed of healing unheard of.

"Feeling better?" Hashirama asked with a warm smile.

"Thanks, you have an amazing power there," the ODST spoke as the pain fully faded away. Hashirama dispelled his healing chakra as the pilot walked to the hatch.

"We better get moving, the Covenant will come soon. And we better not be here when they do come," the pilot spoke as she opened the hatch.

"I have a plan," Hashirama suggested as he pulled the scroll off his back, "We can put one giant paper bomb seal on the ceiling and many smaller ones elsewhere to blow up the Covenant when they come inside."

"Great plan! Let's do it!" the pilot spoke as Hashirama opened the scroll and placed his hand on a seal symbol.

"Unseal," the long haired Senju spoke, there was a puff of smoke and a giant paper bomb tag along with fifteen smaller paper bombs labeled with the kanji for highly explosive motion sensing appeared on the scroll, "Place these tags at points where the explosion will be magnified, I will place the giant one on the ceiling with the help of Tobirama. To apply them to the surface, just push them flat and they will stick. Afterwards, when we all leave, I will activate the tags."

"Let's do it, move quickly!" Jack ordered as he grabbed one of the paper bomb seal tags, the others quickly grabbed a tag to place on the wall. As everyone and the Senju brothers placed the explosive tags, the pilot kept watch for Covenant vehicles.

_Ground is clear. Skies are clear. _The female scanned the ground and skies for the alien threat with her binoculars. After several minutes, she saw a faint dot in the sky and zoomed in, "We better get moving! Covenant drop ship inbound!"

"We are finished," Jack stated after the giant tag was placed along with the fifteen smaller tags, "There are covenant drop ships inbound, we must get going!"

"Follow me, I found a land bridge that leads to a place where we can hide!" the pilot spoke as she jumped to the ground, the others quickly followed suit as she headed to the narrow land bridge and crossed.

After everyone left the pod, Hashirama followed for several dozen meters and turned around and made a hand sign, "Activate." The paper bomb seal tags glowed white as they activated and then became camouflaged; they were now primed to blow up when the enemy entered. The Senju then quickly caught back up to the team.

"I would hate to fall off," one of the ODSTs said as he looked down the deep ravine, "Must go down for hundreds of meters."

As the pilot led the team towards the narrow canyon, Hashirama spoke, "When we get to our hiding place, I will put up a Wood Release Wood Locking Wall for shelter so we can stay safe. It is a lot tougher than it looks."

"In here," the pilot said as she pointed deeper into the canyon before turning to Hashirama, "Good idea, lead the way and find the best spot."

"I will," Hashirama replied as he led the team down the canyon, he quickly found a very good hiding spot. A section with the ground above forming a ceiling and plenty of cover, which he and the team walked to, "Here is a great spot," Hashirama made several hand signs, "Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall."

The UNSC personnel watched in amazement as wood shot out of the ground around the group and quickly formed a protective, multi layered dome. The helmet lights on the ODST and marine helmets turned on in the darkness of the dome.

"Let's sit down and take a break before we start explaining things," Hashirama suggested as he sat down on the ground, the others agreed and sat down also to rest.

"I will keep my COM open so we can receive orders from Keyes, hope others make it off the ship," the pilot stated as she adjusted the COM to try to find any activity.

* * *

**Bumblebee Pod Crash Site**

"Wort! Wort! Wort!" the Elite Major shouted as the Grunts and Jackals jumped off the Covenant Spirit drop ship to the ground. They quickly followed the Elite to the escape pod as the ship hovered above the ground. The Elite, along with three Grunts, walked into the pod.

"Bad feeling, bad feeling!" one of the Grunts squeaked as he walked to the cockpit with his fellow Grunts and the Elite commander following close behind. Moments later, a hissing sound was heard.

"Wort!" the Elite screamed as he saw many tags appear and hiss, he looked up to the ceiling and saw the giant tag hissing and felt his impending doom approaching, "Wort!" A bright flash engulfed the Elite and grunts inside the pod.

Outside, the Covenant only had a split second to stare at the fireball before a massive explosion shook the area. The giant tag exploded followed by the smaller tags with such ferocity that it appeared as if a mini star was born. The resulting shock waves threw the Grunts and Jackals nearby for a distance, shattering their bones, some that were a few feet from the pod had their organs utterly liquefied. Those further out were flung for dozens of feet. One unlucky Jackal was impaled through his guts, left to die a slow, painful death. A rather large piece of metal struck and went through the drop ship's cockpit, seriously injuring the Elite pilot. He attempted to fly away with the Jackals in the left side of the drop ship, died, and fell on the controls for the hatch. As the ship flew over the cliff and plummeted into the sea, the hatch opened with the Jackals trapped in the jammed restraints. They were drowned, and every single covenant in the area was now dead.

* * *

"They took the bait," Tobirama spoke as the area went quiet after the explosion, "Must have killed them all."

"Since we have a break, we can clear things up now. Jack, do you want to explain things first or do you want me to start?" Hashirama asked the ODST.

"I will start first, since it is more important because of what we are up against," Jack replied as he cleared his throat, "The United Nations Space Command, which is Humanity's government, has been at war with the genocidal Covenant for around twenty seven years. The Covenant first attacked Harvest, and began their slow genocide of Humanity since then. And we have been slowly but surely losing. Sooner or later, if we do not stop them, they will find Earth. After that, we are finished; we will all be hunted down and exterminated. The SPARTANs, created by a program involving super soldiers, was not enough to stop them. They were able to win the ground battles, but were unable to take that effectiveness into space. Most of them died during the Battle of Reach, it went from bad to worse and all hope for the planet was lost. We were left with two options- flee, or stay and get destroyed. We took the flee option, needless to say. But before we could leave, my team was sent on a mission to wipe important data from a space station that had failed to activate the Cole Protocol. When we got there, we found that everyone was dead; we had to fight our way through the Covenant to reach the control room and we succeeded in erasing the data. On our way back to the evac Pelican drop ship; Jessie saw you and your brother in an empty room. We took you to the Pillar of Autumn, our ship. And then we fled, the random coordinates that are supposed to lead away from any Human outposts, stations, colonies, or Earth led us right here. I hope I cleared up some things."

"You did, thanks for explaining. Now it is my turn," Hashirama replied, "You must be wondering about the powers we used earlier back on your ship. On the world Tobirama and I are from, there are those who use chakra. Chakra is the life energy of everyone on the planet. It is how we used those powers, called jutsu. They require hand signs to use, the number depends on the skill of the user. I could use a Wood Release jutsu with only one hand sign due to my skill in Wood Release. Most of the people who can use jutsu are called ninjas. Some choose to train themselves; there are those who walk the path of evil and train in dark and forbidden arts. And you must be wondering how we ended up in the station you told us about. I am not sure either about how that happened, but I did get sealed away by someone's jutsu. I had slain hundreds of enemy ninjas sent by my greatest rival and enemy, Madara Uchiha, and we were both reaching our limits. He had an apprentice who most likely hid using a jutsu to stay hidden from my senses. I did not realize he was a ninja from the Yazra clan until it was too late. He unleashed the sealing jutsu, everything I tried to do to prevent my sealing failed and I was sealed away. And ended up on that station you were on."

"Interesting," Jack spoke before turning his attention to Tobirama, "Did the same happen to you?"

"Yes, the one who sealed me away said that he used the same jutsu on Hashirama," the younger Senju brother replied, "Twenty two years after Hashirama was thought to be dead, I was the Second Hokage, leader of the Hidden Leaf village. During a war against our enemies, who attacked us and tried to attack the Leaf village, I stayed behind to let my team escape a murderous team of ninja. They were called the Kinkaku Force, a deadly, elite team of twenty ninjas from the Hidden Cloud village. I had taken down seventeen of them, three remained. I was going to face them in mortal combat but the remaining, unseen enemy showed up. He proceeded to use the same sealing jutsu he used on my brother twenty two years ago. If he is still alive, he would be a dangerous threat to his enemies."

_That man must be extremely dangerous. _"Thanks for explaining things, I know we do not have all day to explain everything now due to the Covenant trying to hunt us all down," the ODST commander spoke before turning his attention to the pilot, "We should sit tight and wait for orders."

"Agreed," the female pilot responded as she adjusted the COM to reach a signal, only hearing static. The marines, ODSTs, ninjas, and the female pilot sat quietly waiting for orders.

_No one except Tobirama and I have chakra. _Hashirama sat, legs crossed as he meditated.

* * *

**2 miles from the crash site**

All was quiet on the raised, grassy hill before a Covenant patrol flew overhead, searching for survivors from the Pillar of Autumn. Moments after they flew out of sight, a bright flash of white light was seen as a figure fell to the ground. The white light vanished moments later, the area was quiet once again.

* * *

"Hashirama, are you okay?" Jessie asked as Hashirama's eyes snapped open.

"I sensed a chakra surge. The only chakra signature I could sense other than my own was Tobirama's. And I felt another chakra spike. Now it appears to be at a low level, we must investigate," Hashirama spoke as he stood up to prepare to undo the jutsu.

"Good idea, we do not want the Covenant to get to whatever it might be first. Those alien scum deserve nothing for what they have done to Humanity," Jack replied as Hashirama undid the Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall jutsu, "Hashirama, you take the lead with Jessie. We will follow behind."

"Let's go," Hashirama spoke as he and Jessie led the team and Tobirama to the site of the chakra surge. Minutes passed as the team moved stealthily to avoid the Covenant patrols flying overhead.

"There, on top of the hill," Hashirama stated as the team neared the end of the series of canyons, on top of the hill was a Human like figure.

"I think I heard Hunters…" Jessie whispered as the team heard growls. Moments later, her assumption became true as an gold Elite Zealot, twenty Grunts, fifteen Jackals, and four extremely deadly Hunters made their way to the same area the team was heading towards.

"Damn, they have more firepower and armor than we have ammo!" Jack stated as he saw the huge group of Covenant in the distance. They were too far away for either side to start shooting, and the aliens have not noticed the UNSC and ninjas yet.

"Let me take care of them, stand back," Hashirama spoke as he made fifteen hand signs with blazing speed. "Wood Release: Giant Multiple Pillar Tree," a split second later, dozens of giant pillars of Wood shot out of the ground in front of the Senju. The pillars ascended for hundreds of feet whiles twisting together which led to a tree like appearance as the UNSC personnel looked in awe at the sight. After ascending for several hundred feet, the dozens of pillars branched out and shot towards the Covenant at a blistering pace. The Grunts and Jackals were pierced with extreme precision. The Elite had time to dodge two pillars before a third pierced him through his lower torso followed by five more which went through each limb and the fifth through his head. The Hunters attempted to defend with their shields and blast away the pillars with their deadly cannons but they were overwhelmed and impaled dozens of times. A single Hunter, the only survivor, tried to raise its cannon before a final pillar pierced the cannon and the Hunter died.

"That was just…amazing!" an ODST spoke as Hashirama undid the jutsu, the wood disintegrated as the sounds of the Covenant went completely silent.

"It was nothing compared to what I could do, I was just holding back. Follow me," Hashirama spoke as he and Jessie led the team to the top of the hill.

"He has a Leaf village headband…he is a ninja like us," Tobirama stated as the team gathered near the figure.

Hashirama sat down on one knee and checked for a pulse, "He is alive, but his chakra level is extremely low. We need to take him and move elsewhere."

"Good idea, the Covenant will surely come here to investigate what happened to one of their patrols," Jack replied as he pointed his weapon towards the area where the dead Covenant soldiers laid scattered.

"True," Hashirama spoke as he placed a hand on the ninja's chest and forehead, "I need to transfer some of my chakra to him, his chakra is extremely low; almost empty," Hashirama's hands glowed with green chakra as he used his Chakra Transmission Technique.

"His flak jacket…it looks similar to what was starting to come into use before I was sealed. Except it had no pockets or neck guards," Tobirama noted as he looked at the ninja's flak jacket.

"There," Hashirama spoke as he finished his jutsu, "He is stable, his life is no longer in danger."

"That's good to hear, we should get going before any Covenant air patrols come by and ruin our day," Jack said as he looked at the sky for any incoming Covenant.

"Good idea," Hashirama replied as he turned his attention to Tobirama, "Carry him piggyback, we need to get moving. I will use my Earth Release: Tunneling Technique to make a hidden route so the enemy does not find us so easily."

"I will," Tobirama responded as he picked up the ninja on the ground. _Things are getting quite mysterious here. _

"That's a great plan," Jessie spoke as she kept her shotgun pointed at the path they had used earlier, "They would have a harder time finding us, and if they do, they are in tight spaces and we can shred them without them being able to dodge like crazy."

Hashirama formed several hand signs, "Earth Release: Tunneling Technique," a large, round hole opened up in front of the Senju, which formed into a path with a gentle slope downwards. He made more hand signs, "Wood Release," moments later, flat pieces of wood moved down the walls of the tunnel. "I reinforced it so it would not collapse if the enemy causes an explosion."

"Let's go, we cannot delay any longer. Jessie, you take the front. With your shotgun and the close quarters, nothing will stand in our way. The ninjas, my team, and I will follow behind," Jack ordered just before he heard a noise, and knew what it meant. He looked up at the sky for the source and saw five rapidly growing dots, "Banshees, inbound!"

"Everyone, go in first, I will set up a barrier!" Hashirama spoke; everyone quickly went into the tunnel followed by the older Senju brother. Hashirama quickly ran in and turned to face the entrance, "Wood Release: Thorny Tree Forest," thorny brambles shot out of the ground in front of Hashirama and formed around the entrance, creating a tight seal, "They are not getting through this, even if they do, they will sustain serious and potentially fatal injuries," the Senju quickly caught up to the team.

"Hashirama, how long is this tunnel?" an ODST asked as the team moved quietly through the tunnel which consisted of wood on all sides except for the floor, which was dirt.

"Two kilometers, I wanted to be sure we lost their trail," Hashirama replied, the sound of the Banshees grew louder as they flew overhead. _The kanji symbols on the unconscious ninja's long coat, caught sight of it before we entered the tunnel…they mean Fourth Hokage. Interesting._

* * *

Master Chief John-117, who was clad in olive green MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor Mark V with a golden visor, had fought his way through a ship filled with Covenant. He had reached his destination point, there was one problem; the Covenant had overrun the area and it was up to him to help clear it out.

His last enemy, an Elite, had lost his shields and had a gaping hole in his leg, presumably from a marine's or ODST's shotgun during an earlier battle.

"Chief, we do not have much time!" Cortana spoke from inside Master Chief's helmet; her data chip was inserted into the back of the helmet. Moments later, the SPARTAN filled the Elite's midsection with a full clip of assault rifle bullets and the alien fell to the ground, dead. "Finally," Cortana spoke urgently, "There's one last lifeboat! Quickly, get aboard before it launches!"

Master Chief ran towards the airlock as other marines headed towards the same lifeboat. An explosion shook the ship and a nearby exploding panel threw a marine to the floor.

"Oh no, oh no!" the frightened marine yelled as he thought about his possible gruesome death. His panicked thoughts were interrupted for a moment by the Master Chief grabbing him and throwing him into the life pod, "Ahhh!"

"Now would be a very good time to leave!" Cortana stated urgently as Master Chief sweeped his rifle into the hallway one last time to check for any remaining Covenant before getting back into the lifeboat. The SPARTAN grabbed a handhold on the ceiling as the marine he picked up crawled into a seat and fastened the restraints.

"Punch it," John spoke to the pilot as another explosion shook the ship.

"Aye aye, sir!" the pilot replied as she sealed her eye visor. She pushed a button on the control panel which shut the hatch and the lifeboat launched out of the airlock with great speed, "We're disengaged. Goin' for minimum safe distance."

"We're gonna make it, aren't we, sir? I don't wanna die out here!" the panicked marine from earlier shouted before Master Chief patted him on the shoulder, which gave the marine some slight encouragement.

"Look!" Cortana exclaimed, the SPARTAN stepped to the front of the pod as the ring world swung into view and the craft headed towards it.

"What is that thing, lieutenant?" another marine asked, unsure of what the object was.

"Hell if I know, but we're landin' on it," the bumblebee escape pod pilot replied as the pod drew closer to the ring world.

"The Autumn! She's been hit!" the scared marine yelled as he looked out the rear hatch window. The ship was damaged; the hull was alight in several places.

The SPARTAN dashed to the rear of the lifeboat and watched the Autumn. "I knew it! The Autumn's accelerating. Keyes is going in manually!" Cortana exclaimed as the ship headed towards the ring world. Several plasma torpedoes struck the lone UNSC starship; the impacts melted the hull plating and caused more fires to break out.

"Heads up everyone, this is it! We're entering the ring's atmosphere in five!" the pilot alerted everyone as the pod neared the atmosphere of the ring world.

"Sure, you wouldn't rather take a seat?" Cortana asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"We'll be fine," the Chief replied as he gripped the sides of the bumblebee escape pod and bended his knees.

"If I still had fingers they'd be crossed…" Cortana responded as the escape pod headed into the atmosphere of the ring.

* * *

**Note- any suggestions for improvement are greatly appreciated. And I will try to get the next chapter done a little quicker than this one.**

**And Hashirama Senju was just holding back on this chapter, next chapter will have the ninjas being more badass.**


	3. Halo

**Ninja Chronicles- Halo Chapter 3- Halo**

* * *

**Note: Sorry this chapter took so long to be posted. I had writer's block and things in life that had to be taken care of. **

* * *

"We're coming in too fast!" Cortana exclaimed, alarmed at the rate of the escape pod's descent as it plummeted towards the ring world's surface at great speed.

_Not good! Not good at all! _The pilot struggled to control the speed and rate of descent as the surface of the ring world drew closer. She could see a forest stretching for miles and a clearing near the edge of a cliff, which was a straight drop into the sea. The pod trailed smoke as the pilot hit several buttons to unfold the air brakes and another to activate the reverse thrusters.

Moments later, the airbrakes snapped off, "Damn! Air brake failure!" the pilot yelled, her voice frantic, "They blew too early! I'm losin' her. Brace for impact!" seconds later, the pod violently slammed into the ground. The impact threw the SPARTAN to the metallic floor, knocking him out.

* * *

"Chief? Chief! Can you hear me?" Cortana spoke, concerned for the SPARTAN as the super soldier stirred before picking himself off the floor quickly, "At last! Are you alright? Can you move?" Master Chief looked around the pod, everyone onboard was dead, some laid slumped in their seats and others were dead on the ground outside the pod. The pilot herself laid slumped in her seat, no pulse detected.

Master Chief checked his assault rifle and pistol and found them to be in working condition before he stepped out of the pod. "The others…the impact. There's nothing we can do," Cortana whispered sadly as the Chief looked at the dead marines near the exterior of the pod hatch.

The SPARTAN looked around and took in the sights. The pod had crash landed into a clearing surrounded by several high cliffs. If one was to reach the cliff top, they would reach a forest. Another cliff marked where the clearing ended and straight down was the ocean of the ring world.

"Warning! I've detected multiple Covenant drop ships on approach. I recommend moving into those hills," Cortana warned as Master Chief quickly headed towards a bridge over a chasm, "If we're lucky, the Covenant will believe that everyone aboard this lifeboat died in the crash."

The SPARTAN neared the bridge as the sound of Covenant drop ships grew closer. "I'm reading thousands of types of flora. The ring's ecosystem is incredibly sophisticated," Cortana stated, amazed by the complexity of the various plants nearby.

"Alert! Covenant drop ship inbound! They must be looking for survivors," Cortana warned as the Chief quickly crossed the narrow bridge, "I recommend immediate evasion!" the Covenant drop ship flew into view, the occupants unaware of the super soldier's presence.

The Master Chief stayed quiet and stuck to the shadows of the rocks and trees. He moved silently as the Covenant searched, and upon believing everyone was dead, left the area. "Good, they're gone. I'm reading a lifeboat beacon nearby, we should head to the hills ahead and check to see if there are any survivors," Cortana informed as the Chief headed towards the signal, a waypoint was visible on his heads up display.

* * *

"We're getting close to the end of the tunnel," Jessie informed the team as she saw light at the end of the wooden tunnel. Everything was quiet as she slowly snuck up to the exit to take a peek outside. The exit was surrounded by several thick trees, and was camouflaged with the trees and roots nearby, which meant it was almost invisible from above.

"Good planning, Hashirama. The Covenant bastards are never going to find us unless they look carefully," Jack spoke as he exited and saw the thick trees and cover above, "Now we just need to sit tight and wait for orders."

"Good idea," the female pilot said as she sat down, her back against a tree, as she adjusted the COM for a signal. The other ODSTs and Jessie sat on the ground, Jack sat next to Hashirama, and they waited for an update from the pilot.

Tobirama laid the ninja they had found earlier on the ground, his back against a tree for support, "There, hope he wakes up soon," Hashirama sat down on the ground near Tobirama as the new arrival moved a bit and his eyes opened slowly.

"He is awake, Hashirama," Tobirama spoke to his brother.

"How are you feeling?" Hashirama asked, "You are safe, my name is Hashirama Senju."

"Feeling exhausted. I thought you were dead," the figure spoke as he looked at the Senju and his brother; his tone calm but confused, "What is going on here? Did I die?"

"No, you are alive. But something strange did happen. Tobirama and I were sealed away, ended up on a station, were found, and ended up here. We found you recently," Hashirama informed the ninja, "What is your name?"

"My name is Minato Namikaze, I was the Fourth Hokage," the ninja said as he made himself comfortable, "It had been sixty three years since you were thought to be dead. And forty one years since Tobirama was presumed killed in action. A mysterious masked man attacked the Leaf village using the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. The beast was too powerful for me to defeat due to my chakra running too low. So I had to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal half of its chakra into Naruto Uzumaki, and the other half into the Death God's stomach. I would have died if it was not for Kushina's sealing jutsu. Not sure what she used, but she took the affects of the jutsu and I ended up being sealed. And I believe that is how I ended up here. Kushina Uzumaki is my wife, and Naruto Uzumaki is my son. Kushina told me to not let the mysterious masked man take over the world since she had found out about the man. I have to keep my promise to her to not let that happen. I am not even sure how long it has been since I was sealed."

"That's no good. Years, decades, or worse, centuries or millennia could have passed," Jack spoke after Minato finished, "I will explain what is going on here, it will have to be short since we could be in a battle situation at any time."

* * *

**The Truth and Reconciliation Bridge**

The Shipmaster, Lat 'Ravamee, manned the control console of the CCS- class battlecruiser. He heard the door open and turned around.

"Lat, I have a plan to trap those demons!" the Elite Zealot spoke as he approached the Shipmaster.

"Feeling better already? Good," Lat replied, "What is this glorious plan you have to trap them?"

"We need to get as many of our sword wielding brothers into whichever brig we use to hold any of the vile Human scum prisoners. And make sure they have their active camouflage on and swords turned off so we can have them walk into the room and not realize we are in there. Then we lock the door, and we have them right where we want them!" the Zealot spoke with glee as his thought about his glorious revenge, "And we slice them apart as they scream! And I will get that vile scum who used those powers, save them for me!"

"Brilliant! That will surely kill those demons!" Lat replied with approval, "I will send out the order now!"

"Good! Now vengeance will be mine!" the Zealot spoke as he turned to walk to the door, "And I will get prepared."

* * *

"Did I clear some things up, Minato?" Jack asked as he finished his explanation.

"Yes, you did good despite the fact we may not have a lot of time before we end up fighting the enemy again," Minato replied, "I am feeling a bit tired, but I should be able to help in the next battle."

"That is good you are not too exhausted," Hashirama stated, "But try not to overdo it. Your chakra level was so low earlier I had to give you some of my chakra."

"Understood, thanks for giving me some of your chakra. Whatever the sealing jutsu was, it must have almost drained what was left of my chakra when I used the Dead Demon Consuming seal jutsu," the Fourth Hokage replied.

"Everyone, I'm getting something!" the pilot spoke loud and clear, everyone turned their attention to her, "I am changing the setting so you can hear it also!"

For a moment, the COM was full of static before a voice was heard, "This is…St…gent…Johnson…need…help…Covenant…almost overrun….getting hammered…" the COM once again gave away to static.

"Can you trace the signal?" Jack asked with urgency, knowing that every second counted.

"No, I'm afraid I can't track it, too much interference," the female pilot replied, saddened.

"Hold on, I can track it down with my sensing ability!" Tobirama spoke, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "Get ready!" With that, everyone except for Tobirama stood up to their feet.

"Can you run?" Hashirama asked Minato.

"Yes, thanks for asking, you are a nice guy, just like in the legends I have heard of you," Minato spoke as he thought about the legends told of Hashirama Senju.

"Get ready!" Jack ordered as Tobirama stood up on one knee. He then pushed his index finger on the ground, and moments later, detected a lot of movement.

"Seven kilometers away!" Tobirama stated as he stood up, "Let's go! Follow me!" With that, Tobirama ran towards the area where he detected movement. The rest of the team followed closely behind. Jack ran beside him along with Jessie and Hashirama.

The COM static cleared a bit after covering over half the distance, "Need…assistance…they….Hunters…Zealots…dual…swords ...going…tear…us apart!" the COM regressed back to static once more.

"Damn! At this rate, we might be too late! We need to pick up the pace!" Jack shouted as the team ran.

"Agreed!" Tobirama replied as he ran faster, the team following suit. Soon, the team heard the sounds of battle in the distance.

"This is not good at all!" Jack stated as the team reached the edge of the cliff. Ahead, was a Forerunner structure which periodically shot energy out the top towards the sky, and a massive battle raging on and around it.

_Looks like I have to use that jutsu. _Hashirama made several quick hand signs, "Leave this to me! Wood Release: Underground Roots Technique!" Moments later, the signs of the jutsu became apparent as the ground ahead started to move before giant roots shot out with great speed. The chakra infused giant roots then went after the nearest Covenant. Hashirama used a single burst of his chakra at his feet to create a wooden ramp which shot towards the ground at the bottom of the cliff, "Everyone, you can go down to assist now, I will help out with this jutsu!"

"Everyone, let's go kick ass!" Jack shouted to the others as he ran down the ramp. His team and Jessie quickly followed.

"I am going to assist, the Covenant will quickly learn to fear our teamwork," Tobirama said to Hashirama before running down the ramp also.

"Hashirama, do you want me to stay and watch your back while you use the jutsu?" Minato asked as he looked back at the forest.

"If you want to, you can assist the others if you feel that you can do so, I could easily put up a shield around myself to protect against their attacks," the Senju replied as he continued to manipulate the roots.

"I am going to stay and assist from long range if I need to, like you are. Better to not overdo it since I was nearly out of chakra earlier," Minato said as he looked at the devastation Hashirama's chakra laced roots have caused. Hashirama put in another burst of chakra into the ground, causing a wall to shoot out of the ground to provide himself and Minato with protection against attacks from the rear, sides, and above.

* * *

_This is it; I am going to die painfully. _Private Bisenti was on the ground, trying to get away from an Elite Zealot with two energy swords who was bearing down on him with murderous intent. Just before the Elite could swing his swords, one of Hashirama's roots went after the Elite. He saw the root in time to slice it before another quickly tied him up as he was dealing with the first root. It then lifted him dozens of feet into the air, and chucked him straight into a cliff face with so much force that the rocks shattered at the point of impact. The Elite fell down to the ground moments later, dead.

"You ok, sir?" Jessie asked as she pulled the Private back up to his feet. Two Grunts and a Jackal walked around the corner of the Forerunner building and saw the two. Before they could fire, Jessie quickly pulled out her pistol and fired three times. Both Grunts were shot in the head so fast that no one could tell which was shot first, and the Jackal was shot through the shield hole, killing him instantly.

"Yeah, thanks to whatever killed the Elite. He cut my weapon in half, and decided to toy with me using his swords. But Sgt. Johnson and the other marines with him are about to get torn apart by the Hunter pair," Bisenti replied as he looked in the direction of where Sgt. Johnson and some marines were fighting the Hunter pair, and saw the ground near them break apart.

Moments later, two chakra laced roots shot out of the ground, causing the Hunters to shift their attention to the roots and blocked the first attempt the roots made to tie up the Hunters, they tried to fire at the roots but they were just too fast and dodged swiftly before wrapping around the Hunters, restraining their arms in the process.

"What's going on here!?" Private Manuel Mendoza exclaimed, confused by what was going on but relived that they were not going to die. The giant roots picked up both Hunters and slammed them against each other. And when that did not produce fatal results, smashed them into the ground with such force the ground beneath cracked before the root tendrils slammed down onto both Hunters with such ferocity that the Hunters died before they could give out any sign of pain.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the remaining Jackals and Grunts tried to seek refuge from Hashirama's jutsu to no avail. Some tried to hide behind rocks, but were found and smashed, or grabbed and thrown against objects and in some cases, thrown at other Covenant soldiers. Some tried to hide in the upper levels of the Forerunner structure to stay safe from the roots and the UNSC marines, but were flushed out by the marines and killed by the chakra laced tendrils. Moments later, every single Covenant soldier was dead.

* * *

_There, all the enemies have perished. _Hashirama withdrew his roots for future surprise attacks, "Minato, let's go and see what we can do," Hashirama spoke as he walked down the wooden ramp followed by Minato. They quickly headed towards Jessie's location near the Forerunner structure. Tobirama and Private Bisenti were standing next to her and a group of marines were nearby. Jack and his team were returning with Sgt. Johnson and the marines that were with him.

"It's a mess. We're scattered all over this valley. We called for evac, but until you all showed up, I thought we were cooked," Johnson spoke as he, his team, and the ODSTs came to a halt near Jessie.

"At least we arrived in time. And thanks to Hashirama, we got rid of all the Covenant bastards pretty quick. They never saw that coming," Jessie replied before turning her attention to Hashirama Senju, "That was really badass back there, kicking all those Covenant soldiers' asses, saved a lot of lives."

"Glad to help out," Hashirama replied with a smile, "The more lives we save, the better our chances of getting out of here."

"I see someone over there! I think it is…" Mendoza shouted as he saw a figure running over the hill, he smiled as he realized who it was, "Master Chief!"

As Master Chief ran to the team's location, Cortana opened a COM link to the ODSTs and marines "Guess we were on time. And I have a question, what happened to that Grunt we saw earlier that fell screaming out of the sky and died on impact?"

"It was one of Hashirama's powers, one of his roots flung the Grunt so hard he flew up and landed somewhere, was not sure, but I was sure the alien fell into the valley you and Chief came from," Jessie answered.

"Interesting, I would like to learn more later," Cortana replied as the Chief looked around and saw the devastation of the battle.

"Heads up!" Mendoza warned as he saw an approaching Covenant ship, "I got a Covenant drop ship headin' in, over there!" the enemy ship flew over the trees above the cliff where Jack and the others came from earlier.

"Leave this to me," Hashirama spoke as he made hand signs and his previous jutsu activated again, "This was why I withdrew the roots, they will never see this coming," the chakra laced roots shot out of the holes and headed straight for the drop ship. Six roots wrapped themselves around the front prongs, three for each prong, which brought the enemy ship to a halt. The pilot franticly tried to put the ship in reverse and wiggle the ship loose and open the troop bays to no avail.

"Watch out for the cannon! It's still operational!" Bisenti yelled as the cannon swiveled to face the ninjas, marines, ODSTs and the escape pod pilot.

"Hold on!" Tobirama shouted as he jumped in front of the team and formed a single hand sign, "Water Release: Water Encampment Wall!" Tobirama spewed a large amount of water from his mouth which shaped into a protective wall large enough to defend the entire team. The enemy cannon fired several high energy plasma rounds in quick succession straight at the wall of water. The plasma rounds struck the water, boiled off some of the water as they turned to vapor, and the loss of water was quickly repaired, leaving the UNSC personal surprised by the effectiveness of the barrier.

"Poor bastards, they seriously underestimated the ninjas," Jack said as a seventh root came out of one of the holes and wrapped around the cockpit. Hashirama then manipulated the roots to smash the drop ship into the ground with incredible force. The energy field between the prongs flickered before vanishing, showing just how much damage the attack caused. Tobirama undid his jutsu moments later; the wall of water came down like a waterfall, flowing away from the team.

"Minato, show them what you can do," Hashirama spoke as the troop bay hatches opened.

"I will, they deserve what is coming at them for what they have done," Minato Namikaze said as he made several hand signs, "Fire Release: Multiple Directional Fire stream," Minato took a deep breath and then spewed a large fire stream which divided into three sections. One tendril of flame hit the right troop bay, incinerating the Covenant soldiers within. The second stream of flames turned and headed into the left troop bay, also cooking everyone within to a crisp. The badly wounded pilot opened the hatch, and stared in terror as the third fire stream headed right for him. He did not have time to even scream before he was reduced to a smoking crisp of a corpse.

"Your team work is incredible; just imagine you, the other ninjas, and the Chief teaming up. The Covenant would likely just run like the bunch of cowards they are!" Sgt. Johnson said to Hashirama as the fires around the drop ship continued to burn after the jutsu ended.

"Look Sharp! Four Covenant drop ships on approach!" Mendoza shouted, he saw the drop ships, which were heading into flanking positions, "They're trying to flank us, in front, both sides, and behind!"

"And they are going to use those turrets and kill us all!" one of the marines shouted as he saw the turrets turn to face the team.

Hashirama formed several hand signs quickly, _Wood Release! Wood Locking Wall!_ A wooden dome formed around the team, blocking the oncoming plasma rounds of the enemy drop ships, "There, that should keep them out for a bit."

"And we need a plan, otherwise it is game over for us," Private Mendoza stated as he heard the enemy rounds firing outside the dome.

_Since we are facing a lot of them, I will need to use Sage Mode_. Hashirama sat down, his legs crossed, "I am going to gather natural energy for Sage Mode, it will only take a few seconds," the Senju spoke as he gathered the energy.

"What is Sage Mode?" a confused marine asked.

"I will explain," Tobirama stated, "Sage Mode is when a ninja uses natural energy along with normal chakra to drastically empower all abilities via gathering the natural energy. The amount of time it takes to do so and the amount of time one can spend in Sage Mode depends on the skill of the person."

"Which means his powers are going to be vastly stronger? Man, I almost feel sorry for the Covenant, they all are going to die," an ODST replied, thinking about how the Covenant might die.

"Almost prepared," Hashirama stated as his Sage Mode activated. Dark pigmentation appeared around his eyes and on the eyelids, lines appeared under each eye which stretched to the ears, one on opposite sides of the nose, and a dark circular marking on the forehead with a dark filled circle in the middle, "All ready."

"So that means we're going to kick some ass now? Because I am itchin' to kick some Covie ass for tryin' to attack us like the slimy cowards they are!" Sgt. Johnson asked the Senju.

"Yes," Hashirama replied as he stood up on his feet, "Let's show them who they are messing with!" His sentence was followed by cheers of approval from the UNSC personal, "Get ready, I am going to put up some barriers and undo this jutsu," Hashirama made one hand sign, and the sounds of the startled Covenant were heard outside as barriers of wood shot out of the ground with great speed. The wood user then dispelled the wooden dome, revealing the high wooden barriers.

"Sounds like the Covenant drop ships left, cowards," Private Bisenti spoke after noticing the absence of the sound of the enemy ships.

"Jack, what is the best strategy we should use?" Hashirama asked the ODST.

"Since the Covenant seem to be terrified shitless because of you and your friends' powers," the ODST replied as the sounds of the Covenant grew closer at a very slow but steady pace, "They are likely in four teams now since there were four drop ships, we should split up into four teams, take them on, and keep them from surrounding and overwhelming us."

"Good idea. Minato, Tobirama, and I can each lead a team. And someone would need to lead the fourth team," Hashirama replied with approval.

"I will lead the fourth team," Master Chief said quickly after Hashirama was finished speaking.

"Great planning, we will kick the Covenant's asses!" Sgt. Johnson stated loud and clear, "I will be on Master Chief's team along with some marines.

"Sounds good," Jack said, "I will be on Hashirama Senju's team along with Jessie and the ODSTs on my team."

Several marines, including Private Bisenti, and the escape pod pilot, joined Minato Namikaze's team. The remaining marines, including Private Manuel Mendoza, joined Tobirama Senju's team.

"All right, let's kick some Covie ass!" Sgt. Johnson stated as he readied his weapon, "Go!" With that, all four teams headed down the passages created by the walls of wood.

* * *

"Be alert, I sense their malice, they are very close," Hashirama warned as he sensed evil intent around a corner.

"Going to give them a taste of my shotgun, stand back," Jessie spoke as she hugged the wall near the corner. She inched towards it as she heard the telltale sounds of an Elite.

"Be careful, if he has a sword, it would mean nothing but trouble," Jack warned as he kept his assault rifle pointed towards the general area of where he expected the Covenant to show up.

"It will be fine; I will just dodge it and kill him faster than he can scream Wort!" Jessie reassured as she spun around the corner and her assumption that it was an Elite was proven correct. She pulled the trigger faster than the Elite could react. The Elite Minor's shields instantly shattered and blood sprayed out of his back. The alien only gave a strained cry of pain before collapsing, dead. The marine had to quickly retreat from the hail of plasma fire and several fuel rod gun blasts and turned her attention to Hashirama, "There are a lot of them. Another Elite, a Major, leading several Grunts of Major rank including a Grunt Heavy with a Fuel Rod gun, and a few Jackal Majors in front of the group. And that fuel rod gun can really tear stuff up."

"Sounds bad, stay here. I will handle them using this combo jutsu," Hashirama stated as he made a hand sign, "Wood Release: Defense Wall," a wall of wood shot up in the passageway around the corner. The Senju quickly stepped around the corner to face the barrier and made several more hand signs, "Wood Release: Wood Projectiles," dozens of spikes of wood emerged from the ground, "It is primed to go flying with tremendous speed and strike with incredible force with a single hand sign."

"Sounds like the Covenant are about to get their asses kicked!" Jessie said as Hashirama headed back around the corner and stood next to her, safe from the enemy counterattack once he dispelled the barrier.

"I know one thing for sure, the Covenant are pretty screwed now!" Jack stated the obvious as Hashirama formed a hand sign.

"Sorry to say, but your days of evil end now," Hashirama spoke to the Covenant on the other side of the barrier as he dispelled the barrier and used another hand sign to send the spikes of wood flying at the enemy with tremendous speed, so fast they could not dodge. Hashirama and the others heard the cries of terror from the Covenant as the spikes impaled them. Some in the rear tried to run before the spikes impaled them and carried them into the wall; one of the spikes struck the fuel rood gun and caused it to discharge. The round exploded against the ground causing all the plasma grenades to cook off and some to go flying.

"Sounds like their fuel rod gun misfired and cooked off their grenades," Jessie assumed as the explosions stopped.

"I do not sense their malice anymore, none managed to escape," Hashirama replied, "Let's go assist Tobirama's team, follow me," With that, Hashirama ran towards the direction of the team with his team following close behind.

* * *

"Stand back!" Tobirama Senju ordered as he pulled his sword off his belt and hit the activation button. A blade of electrical energy shaped into a zigzag lightning bolt emitted from the hilt, "Going to show off a new jutsu which uses my Sword of the Thunder God."

"Allright, hit 'em hard and show them why they should be afraid!" Private Mendoza said as he stuck to the wall and kept in cover.

Tobirama gathered his Water Release chakra and spewed water onto his electrified sword while using chakra to keep the lightning in check, moments later, he stopped the flow of water and used his chakra to keep the water around the blade and at the same time release the lightning into the water, "This is the Water Release: Lightning Whirlpool Enfolding Blade jutsu, let's see how the Covenant like it," Tobirama quickly stepped around the corner and swung his sword, sending out the electrified water at the enemy. The Senju quickly moved back around the corner to avoid the enemy plasma fire.

"Did you just…electrify the water?" a marine asked just before the screams of the Covenant were heard.

"Yes," Tobirama replied, "And their metal armor is going to work against them, it will act like a lightning rod, attracting the lightning and transferring it to anything that touches it."

Around the corner, an Elite with blue armor who had the rank of Minor, along with a Jackal and two Grunts, cowered in fear as they stared at their dead comrades. Some were still twitching as lightning bolts coursed through their bodies and armor. The Elite was too petrified to move. _What in the name of the Great Journey did that demon use?! _"Keep your weapons pointed at the corner! Kill the demon, get your grenades ready!"

"Sounds like they will kill me as soon as I take a peek," Tobirama said as he and the others heard the angry sounds of the Elite, "Stay put, they are in for a nastier surprise, I sense Hashirama and he is coming."

The Senju was correct, as no sooner than a second later, Hashirama along with Jessie appeared at the top of the wall. A split second later, four sniper rifle shots were heard, and the sounds of the Covenant went silent. His team ran around the opposite corner and joined Tobirama's team.

"They sounded pissed, good thing I sniped them right away with a full clip, would have killed someone otherwise," Jessie stated as she reloaded her sniper rifle, the end of the barrel smoking slightly from the recent discharge.

"Tobirama, is everything good here?" Hashirama asked his younger brother.

"Yes, now we should go see how Minato and his team are doing, and assist if they are having any trouble," Tobirama replied.

"Agreed, let's go," Hashirama stated, the two teams quickly headed off with Hashirama in the lead.

* * *

"Time to show them the true power of the Flying Thunder God technique," Minato stated as he, Private Bisenti, the marines, and the pilot stuck to the walls and slowly made their way to the corner until they heard the sounds of the Covenant, "Stay here," The Fourth Hokage reached into his back pouch and pulled out six Flying Thunder God kunai. He then quickly turned the corner and threw the kunai at the enemy. They hit their marks, two were embedded into the ground amongst the enemy ranks, one impaled a Grunt through the front of his face, one impaled a Jackal through his foot, and the last two ended up stuck in the wall.

"Kill him!" the Elite bellowed as he fired a full burst of plasma from his plasma rifle. Just as the rounds were about to hit Minato, he teleported at the last second and appeared next to the impaled Grunt and ripped the kunai out. The Covenant fired once more but the ninja, who was currently living up to his nickname the Yellow Flash, teleported yet again.

"Demon! Run away!" a Grunt screeched before Minato teleported to one of the kunai stuck in the wall and ripped it out. The Grunt did not even have time to turn around before Minato rammed it into his head and ripped it out. The legendary ninja teleported once again, dodging plasma fire as he headed for the next kunai stuck in the wall and used it to slash two Jackals across their backs, ending their lives.

"What in the name of the Holy Great Journey is he using?! He is a true demon! Kill him!" the Elite screamed in rage as he saw his fellow Covenant fall at a speed that should be impossible. Before he knew it, the deadly ninja teleported to the sixth and last kunai, which was in embedded in the ground behind him. He turned around just in time to get the kunai rammed into his shields, which shattered, then his chest. The ninja quickly ripped the kunai out.

_Now that is all of... _Minato caught a shimmer out the corner of his eye as an extremely angry Elite deactivated his active camouflage and lunged with his sword in the process of activating. _Missed one!_

Before the Elite or Minato could react, a blur rushed by and smashed the Elite into the wall opposite the alien, "Were we late?"

"No, you were not, Hashirama," Minato replied as he put away his bloody kunai, "You were right on time."

"That's good," Hashirama replied as he kept his attention on the Elite, who was currently impaled on the chakra infused blade of his sword, "And for this guy," Hashirama's tone became more serious than before, "Why are you doing this?"

"You….demon!" the Elite spat, "Unhand me!" the Elite coughed, "You…are all vermin! You deserve to burn along with all the other Human scum!" the alien tried to raise a hand to reach for his dropped sword before Hashirama's sandal stepped on it, though it was not a boot, Hashirama's sheer Sage Mode strength made it more than enough to cause the Elite to wince in pain.

"Don't even try," Hashirama spoke, pausing between words.

"H…how did you get here so fast?!" the Elite shouted, his words laced with venom.

"My powers allow me to control these wooden walls. Changing their shape to create shortcuts for my UNSC allies was a cakewalk," Hashirama stated as he pulled his sword out of the dying Elite, "If that is all you will say, that means the conversation is over," with that, Hashirama swung his sword, beheading the Elite. He then sheathed his sword. _Will have to clean my sword later._

"It's safe now, you can come out," Hashirama stated as he felt no malice in the immediate area. Private Bisenti and the marines in Minato's team rounded the corner, shortly before Hashirama sensed Tobirama's approach. Tobirama and the others quickly rounded the corner also.

"Hashirama, looks like you and Minato got them," Tobirama noted as he saw the dead Covenant soldiers, Hashirama turned to face him.

"Minato got most of them. Stabbed the last one with my sword before it could get Minato, tried to interrogate the Elite for information but it would not say much other than screaming how much we needed to burn and calling us demons," Hashirama stated.

"As I expected. Elites do not cough up information easily even when under torture," Jessie spoke, "Believe me; I have seen people try extremely drastic measures to try to get them to cough up information without success."

"Not surprising, they must have some kind of honor code," Hashirama said, "Now that the enemy has been taken care of here, let's go and see if Sgt. Johnson and Master Chief need any assistance," _Which I highly doubt they need, the man in the green armor looked like he could give a Genin level ninja a lot of problems, very tough. _With that, Hashirama and the team headed towards the last team's location.

* * *

"Looks like they are right around the corner!" Sgt. Johnson stated as he heard the sounds of the Covenant, "On the count of three, we kick their asses! 1, 2, 3! Go!"

Johnson, Master Chief, and the marines quickly rounded the corner and fired their weapons.

"Give 'em hell!" Johnson shouted as he fired his assault rifle into the Covenant, the other marines fired into the army of Covenant as Master Chief, wielding a pistol in one hand and a shotgun in the other, blew away the enemy.

The Grunts in front fell quickly to the hail of bullets before they could fire. The Jackals, protected by the shields, were able to return fire but were too terrified of the one they call The Demon to get closer. The marines ducked and dodged the plasma shots the best they could, some had very close calls of an inch or less.

"Chief, careful! I believe one of them's a Zealot!" Cortana warned as a very angry roar sounded. The unmistakable sound of an energy sword activating was heard, "There!" Chief spotted the peeved off Elite charging past his fellow soldiers, heading straight for him and his fellow marines.

"Shit! He's pissed!" a marine screamed as he fired at the Elite. Master Chief fired two shots in quick succession from his shotgun, but right before he could fire his pistol, the Elite swung his sword, intent on cutting the marine in half.

"Not today!" Johnson shouted as he pulled the marine out of harm's way, but a second too late. The sword slashed across his chest, leaving a deep wound just as Master Chief fired the pistol, blowing a large hole through the Elite's head. The alien collapsed, dead. A plasma shot zipped by and another marine cried out in agony, "Bastards!" the sergeant was officially pissed now. He laid the injured marine on the ground and resumed firing his weapon.

Only seven Covenant remained, an Elite Minor, three Grunts, and three Jackals. They walked backwards, trying to get distance between themselves and the Chief. Four loud, unmistakable cracks of the sniper rifle sounded. The Elite followed by three of the Jackals died. Coverless and leaderless, the remaining Grunts were quickly exterminated by the Chief.

"Looks like my sniper skills are too much for them!" Jessie said as she reloaded her sniper rifle, Hashirama stood next to her.

"Thanks, greatly appreciate the help!" Johnson spoke before turning his attention to the dying marines, "But two of our men are seriously injured, and are likely going to die soon," Tobirama, Minato, and the others arrived moments later.

"I can help them," Hashirama said as he walked to the marines. Johnson noticed the wall was a lot lower, "I can use my healing technique."

"Trust me when I say this, Hashirama's healing powers are incredibly strong. And when Sage Mode is active, it becomes even stronger," Tobirama stated as Hashirama made several hand signs. Green healing chakra surrounded his body and flowed out in two streams due to his chakra control and poured onto the wounds of the two injured marines. The slash on the marine that was from the Elite started to heal, along with his organs that were also sliced. The plasma burn to the other marine's gut also started to heal.

"That's an incredibly useful power," Sgt. Johnson remarked as the wounds fully healed.

"They will be out for a bit, the wounds would have been fatal without me healing them," Hashirama informed Sgt. Johnson as he dispelled his healing chakra after the wounds fully healed.

"Thank you, sir," Sgt. Johnson replied as he turned his attention to the other marines and gave an order, "Private Bisenti, Private Mendoza, carry the unconscious marines. You are to go with them onboard the firs evac Pelican if one arrives."

"Yes, sir!" the two Privates replied as they headed to the two marines on the ground.

The COM links beeped and a voice was heard, "This is Pelican Echo 419. Anybody read me? Repeat: any UNSC personnel respond."

Sgt. Johnson pushed a button on his COM, "Roger, Echo 419. This is Fire Team Charlie. We read you. Is that you, Foehammer?"

"Roger, Fire Team Charlie. Good to hear from ya!" Foehammer replied.

"If you're not too busy, Foehammer, we could use a lift. We have survivors to transport to headquarters," Sgt. Johnson requested.

"I'm on my way," Foehammer finished.

Moments later, the marines, ODSTs, ninjas, and the pilot heard sounds and looked up.

In the sky, three lifeboats hurtled through the sky at tremendous speeds as Foehammer's Pelican flew over the trees towards the team's location.

"Look, more lifeboats! They're coming in fast. If those lifeboats make it down, the Covenant are going to be right on top of them," Cortana exclaimed, she connected her COM to the Pelican, "Foehammer, we need you to disengaged your Warthog. The Master Chief and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers."

"Roger, Cortana," Foehammer replied as she landed and disengaged the Warthog, "Okay, Charlie Team, Warthog deployed. Saddle up and give 'em hell!"

"Roger, Foehammer," Cortana replied, "Stand by to evac survivors and transport them to safety."

"That's affirmative. Echo 419 staying on station. Foehammer out," the Pelican pilot replied as she opened the hatch.

"The Master Chief and I need some backup; can you spare a few men?" Cortana asked through the COM to the team.

"Sure, Cortana," Johnson replied as he turned his attention to the rest of the team, "All right ladies, volunteers step up on the double! The rest of you, get in the drop ship."

"I will be in the passenger seat of the Warthog," Jessie spoke as she pulled her sniper rifle off of her weapon holder on her back, "And give the Covenant the hell they deserve with this!" the marine jumped into the passenger seat as the Chief sat in the driver seat.

"And you three," Johnson turned his attention to the ninjas, "Are you going to go with the others or go help Master Chief save some soldiers?"

"I can keep up with the Warthog using my Sage Mode speed; we need all the help we can get in fighting the enemy. And my healing powers will likely be needed again," Hashirama said to the Sergeant.

"Keeping up is no problem for me, I can just skate across the ground using my water release jutsu," Tobirama stated.

"Same for me, there is a reason why I am called the Leaf's Yellow Flash," Minato spoke.

"That's good," Johnson stated, "I will be in the Warthog turret seat, givin' those Covies hell, hell they deserve!" the sergeant headed to the Warthog and jumped into the turret seat. Foehammer took off after the rest of the marines and ODSTs boarded the Pelican.

"Tobirama, Minato, are you ready?" Hashirama asked the other two ninjas.

"Yes," the two replied as Tobirama gathered his water release chakra to his feet and Minato prepared to start running.

"That's good," Hashirama said before turning his attention to Sgt. Johnson and Master Chief, "We are ready when you are."

"Let's go," the Chief spoke as he stepped on the gas, the Warthog took off with the ninjas following behind; Hashirama in the lead of the formation with Tobirama behind him to the left and Minato to the right.

"We need to find where each lifeboat has landed," Cortana stated as a NAV point appeared on Master Chief's visor, which pointed to a cave. The SPARTAN drove towards the cave with the ninjas following behind. As he drove down the natural ramp and turned again to drive towards the cave entrance, Cortana spoke again, "This cave was obviously built by someone, it must lead somewhere."

The team headed through the metallic cave, going around corners and ramps as fast as they could go.

"I've hacked into the Covenant battlenet," Cortana informed, "They're actually broadcasting tactical data on unencrypted channels! We should show them who they're dealing with. Master Chief, I'm going to use your suit's transponder system to monitor their chatter."

The team cleared a gap via a jump with ease, and continued down the tunnel.

"It's strange, there are no Covenant in the tunnel so far," Tobirama said to Hashirama.

"Maybe they are hiding, or waiting," Hashirama replied just before he felt an evil presence, "Malice, dead head! Be alert!" the Senju warned as he sensed evil ahead. The team turned a corner and headed down a ramp into a gigantic room, and the front light of the Warthog shone on a Grunt, which jumped and screeched at the same time before Johnson killed it with the turret.

"They set up an ambush, not surprising, stand back," Tobirama noted as he made several hand signs, "Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" the moisture in the room gathered in front of Tobirama and exploded outwards in the form of a large wave, clearing one side of the room of Covenant by sweeping them off their feet and sending them over the side of the gigantic platform. They fell to their deaths, hundreds of feet below. He quickly dodged several plasma shots which came from behind. Sgt. Johnson immediately targeted the enemies that shot at Tobirama and gunned them down. The Elite which had survived the onslaught so far was targeted and sniped by Jessie with haste.

"Attacking us from behind, a bad mistake," Hashirama spoke as he made two hand signs, "Wood Release: Great Forest Jutsu," Hashirama's arm turned to wood and split into many Wood pillars. The pillars then homed in on every Covenant he saw. The edges grew spikes and impaled the Covenant with precision. For those that dodged, he simply created more pillars to trap and then impale them. Soon, only a single Elite Major remained.

Minato moved quickly as he formed several hand seals and focused Wind release chakra to his hand, "Wind Release: Slash," the ninja swung his hand towards the Elite. Several blades of wind headed straight for the Elite, which then formed into a single blade. The alien tried to dodge but it was too late, the jutsu struck him, shattered his shields in an instant, and slashed through his armor and cut deeply. As the Elite laid on the ground, badly wounded, he noticed a tri pointed kunai stuck in the slashed part of his armor.

Minato quickly teleported to the kunai, with a ball of chakra in his hand, "This is my Flying Thunder God jutsu," the Elite only had a fleeting glimpse of Minato's blue eyes and blond hair right before the Rasengan was slammed into his chest, leaving a deep spiral hole in his chest. The Elite gave out a cry of pain and died.

"Everyone, there is a gap, it is too wide for the Warthog to get across," Tobirama informed the team from the top of a ramp near a gap in the center of the room.

"There must be some mechanism to cross this cavern. Look for a control panel or switch," Cortana suggested.

"Up there, on a balcony near the wall, it might be what you are looking for," Hashirama informed Cortana and Master Chief as he saw a pair of flashing green lights on a balcony.

"Thanks, Hashirama," Cortana spoke, having changed the COM to open status so that those without a COM link can hear her, "Chief, let's go check it out," Tobirama walked back to the team.

"We will stay here and wait," Tobirama stated as he and the others waited near the Warthog. Master Chief stepped out of the vehicle and headed towards a ramp which led upwards. He then turned the corner and saw an Elite Major in red armor. It let out a roar of surprise and fired, but the Chief was faster. He fired with his shotgun quickly three times, blowing the Elite away. He then walked to where the flashing green lights were, and found a control panel.

"Knew something was there, those flashing green lights are a real attention grabber," Cortana stated as Master Chief pushed a button on the control panel. Four giant sliver beam-generating structures extended across the chasm and an energy bridge slowly appeared, "That will be our way across, an energy bridge, extremely high tech," the Spartan quickly headed back down the path and back to the Warthog. He jumped into the driver seat as Cortana spoke, "We need to hurry, the more time that passes, the worse things will get."

"Then let's hurry, as fast as we can go," Hashirama stated, to which the others agreed. Master Chief stepped on the gas and headed across the light bridge with the ninjas following behind.

"Whoever built this had extremely advanced technology," Minato stated the obvious as they crossed the light bridge.

"True, it is so far ahead of the UNSC, and ours," Hashirama said as the team headed towards the tunnels once again.

As the team navigated the tunnels, Cortana activated the COM again, "New traffic on the Covenant Battlenet…a lot more crew made it off the Autumn than I had predicted. The Captain really gave them hell! If we can find Captain Keyes and other survivors, we have a chance to coordinate an effective resistance," the AI finished as the team headed towards the exit and left the cave. The Chief headed towards a path with high cliff walls on either side. Johnson, with his expert skills, killed the Jackals and Grunts near the path with ease and speed.

* * *

"No survivors detected in this area, though it is full of Covenant, we need to clear it out as fast as possible," Cortana stated.

"I can assist with one of my jutsu, it is large scale so be careful," Hashirama said, "Minato, Tobirama, follow me," Hashirama ran to the top of the hill with the other two ninjas following behind as Master Chief, Cortana, Johnson, and Jessie wrecked havoc on the Covenant.

"Understood," Cortana replied, "Chief, let's finish this quickly!"

Hashirama stood at the top of the hill, "Minato, Tobirama, watch my back," Hashirama said as he formed a few hand seals, "Wood Release Secret technique: Nativity of a World of Trees," within seconds, giant trees erupted from the ground ahead. Hashirama carefully manipulated the trees and roots so they impaled the Covenant soldiers as the Warthog wrecked havoc. The enemy suddenly found their sight lines shrinking due to the newly grown forest. Their advantage was taken away in an instant.

"This is…Hashirama's power. The Covenant truly do not stand a chance without any armored backup," Cortana spoke as the Chief skillfully drove the Warthog between the trees with ease. Within minutes, every single Covenant soldier laid dead, either from Hashirama's jutsu, Jessie's sniper skills, Master Chief's driving and splattering, or Johnson's turret gunning skills.

"Chief, let's wait for the ninjas to get here, and we must go as fast as we can to the first crash site!" Cortana said with urgency, "This place was a trap designed to slow us down and make us waste time!"

"There, they are all dead, this place was a trap designed to slow us down and allow the others to die, we must not delay any longer. Let's go," Hashirama spoke as he ran to the Warthog followed by the other two ninjas, "Master Chief, we need to go!"

"Understood," the SPARTAN replied. He drove towards the opposite path as the ninjas followed behind with haste, knowing that every second counted.

* * *

"They really tried to cost us time. They underestimated how dangerous we can get when pressed for time," Minato stated as the team quickly found the path nearby, on the opposite side of the creek, which led to the first crash site.

"True," Tobirama stated as the team saw the structure and the smoking trench dug by the escape pod.

"There are some marines, hiding in the hills above the structure," Cortana informed the team, "Hashirama, you should go see if there are any wounded, we'll keep the Covenant busy."

"I will head there, I sense some are wounded," Hashirama stated as he made a single hand sign, _Wood Release: Threefolded Wooden Shield_, a wooden shield formed on his arm, "Tobirama, Minato, follow me. I will use this shield for defense," Hashirama and the other two ninjas ran to the edge of the area and ran up the side of the cliff using chakra while at the same time making their way towards the hill where the marines were. Several plasma shots came their way but either missed completely or were stopped by Hashirama's shield. Moments later, they jumped off of the cliff side and landed on the hill, Hashirama then undid his Threefolded Wooden Shield jutsu.

One of the marines noticed the ninja team, "Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato, you three are a sight for sore eyes. Cortana told us via COM to expect you. We're in a bad way. We've got wounded here."

"Lead us to them so I can heal them," Hashirama replied.

"Yes, sir, follow me!" the marine said, he headed to an area behind some rocks with the ninjas following behind, "Some are seriously wounded."

"Let me handle this. Tobirama, Minato, help the others deal with the Covenant," Hashirama stated as he prepared to heal the wounded.

"Minato, can you use lightning release jutsu? Just in case if we need to use a water release and lightning release combo jutsu," Tobirama asked.

"Yes," Minato replied.

The two ninjas and the marine turned around as Master Chief drove the Warthog to the hill and jumped out of the driver seat and ran to their location.

"We've killed all the Covenant in the area for now, but more may be coming," Cortana stated through the COM, "I'll call in a drop ship to pick you and the other marines up.

"Thanks, we thought we were in serious trouble here. The Covenant would have killed us all if you did not arrive," the marine replied.

"Cortana, Chief, I am going to use one of my jutsu to help defeat the enemy quicker," Tobirama said.

"Thanks, appreciate the help," Cortana replied, "As I suspected, more Covenant ships are approaching."

"Time for battle, Minato, let's go!" Tobirama stated as he ran to a large rock with Minato following behind and the two jumped onto the top of it. The water user made several hand signs," Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu," a mass of water gathered on the ground below the rock and seven large dragons made of water appeared, "My skills with water release are on a level where I do not need a pre-existing water source like an ocean or lake."

"Impressive!" Cortana exclaimed, "We will take care of any Covenant that manage to avoid your attacks."

The SPARTAN jumped into the driver seat and drove back into the area around the structure as the sound of the Covenant drop ships became louder.

Tobirama manipulated the water dragons to wrap several coils of water around himself and Minato, "This will keep them from trying to attack us so easily, a defensive barrier," Tobirama then manipulated the jutsu and sent the dragons after the Covenant drop ship that just came into view. The mouths of all seven dragons clamped shut on the drop ship, "Let's see how they like this," the ship was then thrown at the other approaching Covenant ship with such force that both exploded on contact. The burning debris rained down on the forest cliff edge.

"I would not want to be the ninjas' enemy!" Jessie exclaimed as she saw the burning husks of the enemy drop ships.

"Those dumb bugs are getting what they deserve!" Sgt. Johnson spoke as the Chief drove the Warthog around the area.

"I'm only getting the approach signature of one Covenant drop ship…they are screwed," Cortana stated as another enemy drop ship flew overhead. No sooner than a second later, Tobirama's water dragons had a tight hold on the drop ship and slammed it onto the ground with great force. The doors opened on both sides but before the surviving Covenant could move, Chief drove by and Sgt. Johnson shredded them with the turret.

"Echo 419 to Cortana," the Pelican pilot spoke through the COM, "Foehammer's on station and ready for pickup."

"Affirmative, Foehammer. We're ready for dust off, approach when ready," Cortana replied as Master Chief drove back to the hill and Tobirama undid his jutsu.

"Roger, Cortana. On my way. I've spotted additional lifeboats in your area. One near a rock slide. And another near a cliff edge. Hard to see from my altitude, but it looks like there are more survivors," the pilot informed shortly before her drop ship flew over the treetops and landed near the Forerunner structure.

"Chief, let's wait for the ninjas to get here, then we will head to the next crash site," Cortana said.

"There, all healed. Take them to the drop ship when you can, there are likely additional survivors elsewhere to assist," Hashirama stated to the nearby uninjured marines as he finished healing the wounded. He stood up and turned around as Minato and Tobirama ran to him, "Ready to go," With that, they ran quickly to the Warthog.

"Ready?" Cortana asked, "We need to find the other two lifeboats."

"Yes," the ninjas replied. With that, the Master Chief drove off with the ninjas following behind. They headed down the other pathway and followed the river. They went down the next path which led to a large rock slide.

* * *

"Survivors detected. Marines are concealed in those rocks," Cortana informed.

"We will head into the rocks, the pathways in between appear to be too narrow for the Warthog to go through," Hashirama spoke, "Minato, Tobirama, let's go help them out!" with that, the ninjas moved quickly into the rocks as the SPARTAN, Jessie, and Johnson laid waste to the Covenant that dared to come out of the rocks into their line of fire.

"The Covenant are trying to flush us out!" a marine yelled as several Jackals, a Grunt, and an Elite Major advanced on their concealed position shortly before a blur came up from the ground with a thunderous boom and Covenant were hurled dozens of feet away from the point of impact with great speed. All, except for the Elite and a Jackal, died.

"Oh Shit!" another marine shouted as the dust settled, revealing several wooden pillars with giant spikes.

As the Jackal and Elite stood up coughing, an almost invisible blade of wind slashed deeply into them. They cried out in pain shortly before dying.

"Were we late?" Minato asked as Hashirama stood to his left and Tobirama to his right on top of a large rock.

"Not sure who you three are, but you must be allies. And you were right on time," the marine sharpshooter replied.

"This is Cortana, the three you must have saw now are our allies. They will help us in the upcoming battles," the AI spoke through the marines' COM links, "I have contact! Covenant Drop ship inbound!" the ninjas heard her due to one of the marines leaving his COM open for others without a COM to hear.

"Tell Cortana to tell the Chief to stay away from where the Covenant are, I am going to turn their area into a forest," Hashirama ordered as he made three hand signs,

"Yes, sir!" the marine replied, "Cortana, one of them is going to stop the Covenant with something; he wants you to tell the Chief to stay away from the area."

"Understood," Cortana replied as a Covenant drop ship quickly flew into landing position and the troops quickly jumped out.

Hashirama formed a dozen hand signs, "Wood Release: Final Nativity of a Sea of Trees," within moments, gigantic trees erupted from under the Covenant's position. Not just ordinary trees, trees with giant thorns. Some of the Covenant, such as the Elites and Jackals, attempted to outrun the rapidly spreading forest but it was too late, their fate was sealed due to the Sage Mode enhanced forest. Most were impaled; some were crushed by the trees. The Covenant drop ship that recently dropped off the troops tried to flee before the Sage Mode energy laced wood tendrils grabbed the drop ship, first wrapping around the turret and disabling it, then the rest of the drop ship, shortly before smashing it into a cliff face with so much force that it exploded. Hashirama stopped the growth of the forest as soon as the malice in the area vanished.

"Whoa!" a marine shouted in awe of the giant thorny trees, and what happened to the Covenant.

"Another drop ship inbound!" Cortana warned via the COM.

"Already on to them!" Hashirama said as he caused several of the giant trees' branches to lash out and wrap around the drop ship. The branches then yanked the unlucky drop ship into the cluster of trees, which then grew more and more. The ship was stuck, front end facing down, and the turret jammed in between branches and unable to get a lock on anyone. The troop bays opened and the Covenant tried to jump out to safety, but ended up as targets for Jessie's sniping skills and Johnson's turret skills. Soon, every single Covenant soldier either had gaping holes blown in their heads, became Swiss cheese, or both.

Two drop ship came as Cortana spoke, "They must really want to die," at that instant, they flew away upon seeing the wrecked ship stuck between the trees.

"They're not getting away that easily," Hashirama spoke as he manipulated the branches once more. They shot out and grabbed both prongs of each drop ship. Two more wood tendrils wrapped around the turrets and ripped them off. The tendrils were controlled to smash the two drop ships into the ground with tremendous force. Something had happened to the engines of the crafts and smoke started to billow out just before explosions started to blossom out of the drop ships.

"It's going to blow!" a marine shouted just before Hashirama formed a hand sign.

"Wood Release: Defense Wall!" in an instant, wooden walls shot up, protecting the Warthog occupants, marines, Hashirama, and his fellow ninjas from the tremendous twin explosion that followed and the resulting shower of debris.

"They self destructed, tried to take us with them," Cortana spoke after the dust and debris settled on the ground, she activated her COM to Foehammer, "Foehammer, we're ready for dust off, approach when ready. We're going to look for the last lifeboat, Echo 419, good luck."

"Affirmative, moving in," Foehammer replied as the Pelican drop ship flew over the trees and moved into landing position.

"We are going to go find the last lifeboat," Hashirama sad to the marines, "Let's go," with that, he, Minato, and Tobirama ran to Master Chief's warthog, "We are ready to go find the last lifeboat."

"Good, we need to hurry, the Covenant will likely organize a bigger attack if we stay here," Cortana stated. With that, the Chief drove off with the ninjas following behind.

* * *

As they followed the river, Cortana noted a lifeboat near the river and the team stopped there, "Lifeboat detected," Cortana stated, "No sign of survivors…"

"This lifeboat is thrashed, Chief. There are weapons and supplies but…no bodies," Jessie noted as they saw the trashed interior and supplies strewn about.

"I sense survivors ahead, there is a path nearby," Hashirama replied.

"Let's go there, hope they last long enough!" Cortana stated urgently as the team headed as fast as they could towards the nearby path.

"It's full of Covenant, could be a good twenty or thirty of them!" Jessie exclaimed as the team headed over the hill after leaving the pathway.

"Maybe they took cover in that structure. Let's check it out after we eliminate the enemy forces on the surface!" Cortana stated.

"We will assist in a minute, need to make preparations," Hashirama stated as he and the ninjas took cover behind a large rock. Master Chief, Jessie, and Sgt. Johnson wrecked havoc on the Covenant, "Minato, Tobirama, I can use my Healing Chakra Transmission technique to give the two of you some of my healing chakra. Although it is effective, if the wound is very serious, I would have to intervene and use my healing abilities like I did with the other marines, so be careful," Hashirama gathered his healing chakra into his hands, and placed a hand on Tobirama's shoulder and the other on Minato's shoulder. He then transferred the healing chakra to the other two ninjas, "I did not want the Covenant to catch on to this ability."

"Good planning, let's get them," Minato replied.

"Agreed," Tobirama replied, all three ninjas soon jumped into battle.

"Wind Release: Razor Wind!" Minato said as he formed a few quick hand seals and focused wind release energy to his hands and swung in the direction of the closest enemies. Two deadly wind blades in an X formation hurtled towards the enemy, almost invisible. They did not have time to dodge before they were slashed to death, ten Jackals and Grunts dead with one jutsu. Minato continued to dodge the enemy plasma fire with his extreme speed.

"Water Release: Water Colliding Wave!" Tobirama used his mastery of water release to gather the moisture in the air into a great amount of water and sent it outwards. Fifteen Covenant were caught in the ensuing flood of water, and were washed off the cliff edge into the sea, "This is what happens when the enemy do not pay attention to the environment."

"Wood Release: Spear Forest!" Hashirama said as he made several hand signs. Two tendrils of wood quickly emerged from the ground and shot towards five Covenant soldiers trying to shoot the ninjas, they were not able to dodge the tendrils and were smashed against the wall, dying instantly.

As the ninjas wrecked havoc, Master Chief, Sgt. Johnson, and Jessie shredded the rest of the enemy, the ones on the second floor of the Forerunner structure were sniped by Jessie with extreme precision. Soon, every single Covenant soldier on the surface of the area was dead.

"I noticed an entrance, over here," Minato informed the team as he spotted an entrance.

Master Chief drove the warthog to the ninjas' location; afterwards, he, Jessie, and Johnson left the Warthog.

"Now that we are all here, follow me, I found what is likely the entrance," Minato said as he led the team to the entrance.

"Let us go in first, it might be full of Covenant," Cortana said, to which the others agreed. Master Chief entered first, followed by Jessie, Johnson, and the ninjas. The team walked down a ramp after turning a corner just inside the entrance.

The team rounded another corner at the bottom of the ramp and came upon another ramp, and saw the marines they needed to save fighting the Covenant. Jessie spoke, "They really had the place overran before we arrived!"

Jessie pushed up against the side of the doorway in cover, "Stand back, let me take them out from a distance, Chief, provide covering fire," the marine ordered as she peered around the corner with her sniper rifle. The Master Chief fired his assault rifle at the enemy. Jessie quickly made short work of them, only a single Elite remained. Jessie quickly reloaded as the Elite, a Zealot, charged with his sword active. Master Chief and Jessie responded by filling up the Elite with a full assault rifle clip and two sniper rifle shots and the Elite fell over, dead.

"I've called for evac," Cortana spoke through the COM.

"Roger that. Marines! Assemble for evac, pronto!" a marine ordered. The team and marines headed across the gap via the bridge and headed up several ramps and around corners before arriving at the top floor. They were just about to head through the gap in the walls surrounding the exit.

"Halt! I detect the enemy!" Hashirama warned as he made hand signs, "Stand back, I will deal with them quickly! Wood Release: Thorny Tree Forest," next second, thorny trees erupted ahead, impaling the Covenant. Within moments, the entire area ahead of them was a giant forest of thorny trees, "There, they have perished."

"Which means that we won this battle," Jessie spoke.

Cortana opened the COM to Foehammer, "We got the last of the Covenant in the area."

"Roger that. I'm on my way," Foehammer responded.

"New traffic on the Covenant battlenet," Cortana spoke through the COM to the team, "I've found Captain Keyes! He's being held on a Covenant cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation, a ship I disabled before we abandoned the Autumn. The Truth and Reconciliation touched down on a desert plateau roughly three hundred kilometers up-spin."

Foehammer's Pelican flew over the tops of the trees and came to a landing near the edge of the cliff.

"There's our ride. Get aboard everyone, and let's get out of here," Cortana informed, the team made their way to the Pelican.

"Glad this is over," Tobirama said as he dispelled his Water Release jutsu gathered around his feet. Hashirama soon afterwards deactivated his Sage Mode.

As the marines, Jessie, Sgt. Johnson, Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato, and the Master Chief stepped onboard the Pelican, Foehammer spoke, "Welcome aboard, Master Chief. Ready for dust-off."

As everyone sat down on the seats, Cortana spoke via COM to Foehammer, "We should move out, Lieutenant. And then we'll need your help on our rescue mission."

"Affirmative, we're headed for Alpha Base," Foehammer responded. Shortly afterwards, the Pelican took off, headed for Alpha Base.

* * *

**I hope I can finish the next chapter sooner and update every week or so from now on. **


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